


Hot Chocolate in Portland

by particularlygeeky



Category: Leverage, The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Adventure, Bridgeport Brewpub, Cassandra with a C nice Kassandra with a K evil, Eliot is an angel, Elissandra, Eventual Plot, F/M, Falling In Love, I love this ship, I'm so sorry guys, If you don't love Eliot you're wrong, Jake is stubborn and angry, Leverage post series, Portland, Rare Pairings, Some angst, Tumor, first crossover I've ever written, leverage crew meets magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-07-14 23:46:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 43,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16051070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/particularlygeeky/pseuds/particularlygeeky
Summary: Cassandra didn't mean to end up at the Bridgeport Brewpub.  But she did, and it has changed her life.  And when an artifact affects Cassandra personally, she asks the Leverage crew for help.





	1. An Unexpected Meeting

     The first time Cassandra ended up in the Bridgeport Brewpub was by accident. Ezekiel had given her a recommendation for a Chinese garden tea shop in downtown Portland, and she was trying to find her way through the rain.  
     After wandering for over an hour, the smells from the Brewpub had wafted out onto the street, and Cassandra gave up on finding the tea shop in favor of warmth and food. She went into the pub and shivered in the doorway, wiping the water out of her eyes as she looked around.  
     “Oh my gosh! You’re freezing! Here, let me help you dry off and I’ll get you something warm to drink.” A waitress came over and led Cassie to the restroom and helped her with drying off her hair. “What were you doing out there in the storm?”  
     “Oh, my friend recommended this little Chinese tea shop. Unfortunately, his directions are terrible and I got lost. I’ve been trying to find it for the last hour, completely unsuccessfully, I might add.”  
     “You poor thing. Well, why don’t you finish drying off in here, and I will go get you a hot chocolate so we can get you warmed up. By the way, my name is Amy. Just go to the kitchen and ask for me, okay.” The waitress handed Cassie the towel that was on her arm from drying tables.  
     Cassandra carefully patted down her skirt, and took off her shoes to try to get the water out of her boots. As she walked around the restroom, she could see her wet footprints. Her hair was dripping rivers down her face. Her body couldn’t stop shivering from constant exposure in the cold weather for the past hour. Most people would be cold, but Cassandra had always had problems keeping her body temperature up.  
     Finally, the mathematician dried herself off as best as she could and decided that she needed to be warm, more than dry at the moment. Cassie went back out into the restaurant and went over to the kitchen door. She poked her head in, looked around for Amy for a moment, and didn’t see her.  
     “Can I help you?” the chef asked. Cassandra was mesmerized by the man. He had long hair and eyes that conveyed the mysteries of the universe. He had seen hardship and danger, but had a tender heart. But what really caught her eye was the fact that the chef looked almost exactly like Jacob Stone.  
     Cassandra was so surprised, she couldn’t speak. That is, until he set down his knife and turned towards her, wiping his hands on the towel on his shoulder. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”  
     “I was looking for Amy. She said that she would have some hot chocolate for me?” Cassie said.  
     “Oh, she said she had left some here for you. Let me grab it for you.” The chef grabbed a kettle from off of the stove and poured it into the mug. The smell of the chocolate wafted out and filled the redhead with memories of Christmas lights and warm fires and homes filled with comfort.  
     “Is this homemade hot chocolate?” Cassie asked.  
     “Sure is. It’s an old family recipe, passed down for three generations. It’s a little bit of Oklahoma brought to the city of Portland.”  
     “I’m Cassandra Cillian. What’s your name?”  
     “Eliot. Now, you wanna tell me why you’re soaking wet?”  
     “Let’s just say that the Chinese garden tea shop is extremely difficult to find and my friend is terrible at giving directions.”  
     “So how long were you wandering around in the rain before you decided to come in here?”  
     “Probably about an hour. It got a little cold out there.”  
     Eliot looked at her, surprised that she would spend that much time in the rain just looking for a little tea shop. She was definitely tough, if not a little foolish for not seeking shelter from the rain. A girl like that was a curiosity. And Eliot always loved to meet interesting people.  
     He handed the woman her mug of hot chocolate, and then gestured to the stool on the opposite side of the island. “Tell you what. Why don’t I make you some dinner, and you can tell me about yourself?”  
     Cassandra gave him a bright smile and took her mug to the other side of the island then sat down on the barstool. “Thank you. Well, what do you want to talk about?”  
     “I just like meeting new people. Where are you from, Cassie?”  
     “Oh, I am from New York. You’re from Oklahoma, you said?”  
     “Yep. Born and raised. Oklahoma is the kind of place where you feel at home with the sky and the land.”  
     “I’ve always wanted to spend time with horses. Did you grow up on a farm?”  
     “Yeah, there’s nothing better than roaming the land on the back of a horse that understands you better than anyone ever could. They don’t care about what you’ve done or who you are, as long as you care for them.  
     “Now, what are you in the mood for? Italian, French cuisine, Mexican?”  
     “Why don’t you make me your favorite meal.”  
     Eliot smiled at her, and turned to gather ingredients from his various cupboards and fridges. As he moved around, working the kitchen as though he was born to cook, Cassandra saw waves of color and musical notes floating through the air. He was a symphony of art and sound, and all he was doing was cooking.  
     Cassandra waved her hand through the hallucinations, focusing instead on Eliot. She talked to him about art, about history, about math and random facts she had learned while working for the Library. He matched her fact for fact, often including stories about people he had met. He told her about the general from San Lorenzo and the little boy whose father abused him. In return, Cassie told him about the amazing places she had visited as a Librarian.  
     Among the many people that Eliot told Cassandra about, he included the people he called his family. Hardison, Parker, Sophie, and Nate. He told stories about their team movie nights, when Hardison could hardly keep quiet throughout all of the movie. Parker would be his horror eating stories. Nate and Sophie were his examples of how true relationships should be approached; as equals in every decision and full of compassion and forgiveness and compromise.  
     Amy popped in and smiled when she saw the two of them talking as if they were old friends. She cleared her throat, knowing from past experience that it was never a good idea to startle Eliot. “Hey, um I went to my apartment and grabbed a spare set of clothes for you. I figured that you wouldn’t like to sit around in your wet clothes. Here, why don’t you go change.”  
     “Oh, thank you. That’s so kind of you.”  
     Amy handed her the clothes and watched as the redhead made her way back to the restroom. Eliot watched her go for a moment, and then went back to mixing the vegetables in the frying pan on the stove.  
     “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you actually interact with someone besides us and Hardison and Parker,” Amy said.  
     “Yeah, well, I love getting to know people, I just don’t get to very often. She was interesting. What kind of person is willing to walk over an hour in the rain to find a little shop their friend told her about? She’s a mystery. And I can’t resist a good mystery.”  
     “Well, I think she is sweet. Maybe you should invite her to dinner sometime.”  
     Eliot gave her a glare. But rather than be cowed, Amy just laughed. “I know that your bark is worse than your bite. You should get out more, and if you’re interested in this girl, take her with you. It can’t hurt anything.”  
     “You do realize that I am in charge of you, right? That you answer to me.”  
     “Like you would actually want to get rid of me. I know that you’re really a big softie, despite the fact that you try to scare everyone away from you. You wouldn’t toss me out of your kitchen even if I burnt the hot chocolate. You’re too nice.”  
     Eliot growled and grabbed his towel, swinging it back and forth in his hands until he lashed out at Amy. She squealed and dodged the blow, backing up into the drawer where she dug out a second towel. They started trying to hit each other, Eliot sometimes landing a blow, but Amy succeeding more often than not. By the time they decided to call a truce, they were both laughing.  
     A flash of red caught the chef’s eye and he turned to see Cassandra watching them with a smile on her face. He grinned at her, then turned to put the food he had been preparing on a plate.  
     “Here you go. Dinner is served, mademoiselle.”  
     “Why thank you good sir. It certainly smells delicious.” Cassandra eagerly took a bite of the food and instantly melted into the flavor. It was pure heaven. “This is incredible. I might have to hire you to cook for me all the time if it all tastes this good.”  
     “Well, you could just come into the brewpub every once in a while. I enjoy the company and I enjoy the cooking. It would be nice to see you again.”  
     Cassie giggled. “I don’t think wild horses could keep me away. Besides, I will need to come back since I am wearing Amy’s clothes now. She’ll need them back.”  
     Amy watched the two interact and smiled to herself. Eliot was not known to be open to strangers, but these two obviously had some chemistry with one another. It was almost as if they were soulmates, destined to be together. _I am going to find a way to convince Eliot to take this girl on a date, even if it’s the last thing I do. He deserves to be happy, and I don’t think I have ever seen him smile this much in a single evening._  
     “Eliot, I’m going to go clean the floor and close up for the night. Cassandra, it was really nice meeting you, and I hope you come back in soon.”  
     “Thank you so much for all of your help, Amy. I will probably be back sometime soon. The food and the company can’t be beat.” Cassandra smiled at the young girl and then shot a glance towards Eliot.  
     “Go on. I’ve got the kitchen tonight, and you need to get some rest. And good luck on your test tomorrow.”  
     “Thanks, chef. Good night Cassandra.” Amy waved at the two, then disappeared into the main area of the brewpub.  
     Eliot made himself a plate of food and then crossed around to sit beside the redhead. “So, tell me. How do you know all about math and history and art?”  
     “I’m actually a math prodigy. Ever since I was a little girl, numbers fascinated me and I loved counting things. By the time I was old enough to go to school, I had learned basic calculus and would balance my dad’s checkbook in my head over breakfast. So, I’ve known math my whole life, but most people see me and think I am a weirdo for loving math and numbers.”  
     “So, you’re a genius. That is really cool. I know a lot about a lot of things, but I’m not really an expert in one field above another. And just because you know something that most people can’t comprehend does not mean you are weird. It means you were given a gift and you can use it to help people.”  
     “Thanks, Eliot. And I think you are a genius in your own way. Not many people can retain information like you can. It’s pretty special.”  
     They fell into a relaxed silence, each thinking about the other person. Cassie felt herself blush a little, and decided to focus on finishing her food so she could head back to the Annex and go to bed.  
     “I think it’s time for me to say good night,” Cassie said as she stood up and took her empty plate and mug over to the sink. Eliot stood up with her and found a grocery sack for her to put her wet clothes in. “Thank you so much for your kindness. How much do I owe you for the food and the hot chocolate?”  
     “Tonight, it’s on the house. You looked like you needed company and good food.” He offered his arm as they walked through the restaurant. “Let me take you home, that way, I know you got home safe.”  
     “Oh, that’s not necessary. I took a cab here, and I can just as easily take a cab back home.”  
     “Well, at least let me call a cab for you. I don’t like the idea of a pretty girl waiting outside in the dark and in the rain for a cab to come pick her up.”  
     “Okay,” Cassie said, with a soft smile on her face. “I guess waiting a few more minutes in here wouldn’t hurt. Thanks again for everything you did for me today. And for the food. You have a gift and a talent to make people happy. You should be proud.”  
     They waited for the cab to come, and when it pulled up to the curb, Eliot grabbed an umbrella from the stand next to the door and held it out for her. “Wouldn’t want you to get soaked again, and it’s raining harder now than it was earlier.” Cassie took the umbrella, smiled, then walked through the door.


	2. A Blooming Friendship

     The next time Cassandra Cillian found herself in the Bridgeport Brewpub was a week later and she found herself craving the homemade hot chocolate and company of a certain chef. She also needed to return the clothes that Amy had let her borrow. When she walked through the door, Cassie was surrounded by the feeling of comfort and happiness. Something that she had rarely found in her life.  
     She saw Amy immediately, helping the customers at various tables. She moved around, asking the men and women about their lives, genuinely caring about her customers. Cassie loved it when a waitress took the time to talk to you and actually listen to what you have to say.  
     Cassandra went up to the bar and sat down, waiting for when Amy was free to come talk to her. While she waited, the redhead looked over the menu, looking at both sides. One side was titled Chef’s Pick, while the other was full of experimental food, particularly the beers. That one was called Hardison’s. Cassie wasn’t sure who Hardison was, but his ideas of putting anchovies and pineapple on the same pizza was not particularly appetizing.  
     Eliot had obviously put a lot of effort when he put together the menu for the brewpub. Cooking was his love, his passion, and it showed. Eliot let his passion show, and Cassandra was happy to be able to see that in everything he did.  
     Amy touched the redhead’s shoulder to get her attention, and the girl turned towards her with one of her brilliant smiles. “Cassandra, it’s so nice to see you again. I was hoping you would come back.”  
     “Hi Amy, it’s so good to see you again. And let me tell you, after the food that Eliot made, there is nothing that could keep me away. Not to mention, I think I made a few friends here.”  
     “Well, you certainly did that.”  
     “Oh, I had hoped that you would be working tonight. I brought your clothes back, all clean and dry,” Cassie said as she picked up the bag that she had folded the borrowed clothes in. She gave them to the waitress. “I can’t thank you enough for letting me borrow your clothes. You are literally a lifesaver.”  
     “It was my pleasure. We like to help people here. The chef and the owners sometimes find people all over the country who need help and they usually meet them here. I don’t really know how they do it, but within the week, the people are crying from happiness and all their problems seem to be solved. In fact, that’s what they are doing right now.”  
     “Really? They help people all over the country? Why haven’t we heard about them before? How come they aren’t on the news?”  
     “As far as I can tell, they tend to keep everything under the table, making sure that they don’t end up in the news. They don’t like to make their names and faces known to the general public, just the ones that need their brand of help.”  
     “That’s really cool.”  
     Amy smiled and then gestured to the menu. “See anything you want to try tonight?”  
     “I was actually wondering if anybody actually ordered from Hardison’s. These combinations just don’t seem like they would taste very good. I mean, anchovies on pizza?”  
     Amy laughed out loud at that. “Eliot and Hardison, the owner, have had several arguments about the menu for the pub. I think Eliot gave up trying to tell Hardison that food needs to actually taste good, and gave him a section of the menu to advertise to the customers. But everyone who comes in loves all of Eliot’s food. I don’t think anyone has ever even ordered anything from Hardison’s.”  
     “I can actually see Eliot complaining about putting mushrooms with tacos. But, how about I have whatever your favorite dish is. Oh, and some of that yummy hot chocolate. I’ve only had it once, but now I’m addicted.” Cassie smiled and ordered.  
     “How about the chicken noodle soup? With the fresh bread.”  
     “Now that sounds delicious.”  
     They spent the next hour or so, conversing as often as they could in between Amy taking care of other customers. The two girls were meant to be friends and they talked as if they had known each other their whole lives. Other guests smiled as they watched the two girls get to know each other. Several were frequent guests and knew Amy and how much she needed to have friends that understood her and weren’t affected by her father’s money.  
     By the end of the night, Cassie and Amy had exchanged numbers and made plans to go the movies together. Because of her gift with math and then her tumor, not to mention overbearing parents, Cassandra had never really had many close friends until the Librarians. It was nice to make a friend out in the city, someone she could spend time with and be herself around. The Bridgeport Brewpub became her new favorite place in the city of Portland.


	3. Meeting the Family

     After that, Cassie found herself in the Brewpub quite often, usually spending time with Amy, or Eliot if he was there. One particularly memorable visit started like this.  
Cassandra sat down at her usual place on the bar and heaved a huge sigh, before putting her head down on the countertop. The man sitting a few seats down from her, glanced over curiously.  
     “Hey, uh, are you alright?” he asked.  
     “Oh, yeah. It was just a rough day at work,” Cassandra said before letting out another sigh.  
     “Yeah, yeah. I know those days.”  
     The two of them lapsed back into silence, letting each other focus on looking over the menus. Cassie tried to find a dish from the Chef’s Pick that she hadn’t tried yet, but was hard pressed to find one that Eliot hadn’t made for her already. The lasagna was extremely good, but she had that dinner three nights ago.  
     Amy came up and sat next to Cassandra, grabbing her beer and taking a swig from it. “Hey stranger. Anything new happen today at work?”  
     “Well, I got to see a lovely Monet, but I had to deal with Ezekiel trying to steal my wallet for twelve hours straight. Not to mention, he also got us in trouble with some local yahoos. So besides running from people who wanted to capture me and make me their queen, it was a great day.”  
     “Ooh. Sounds like it really was a rough day. Is it the kind of day for hot chocolate and the company of a certain chef?”  
     “I think that sounds like a wonderful idea.”  
     “Great! I’ll go let Eliot know that you’re here.” Amy stood up and walked over to the backroom, knocking on the doorway before going in. A few minutes later, Eliot came out with a smile on his face and followed by three people. One was a young black man who was extremely tall and walking hand in hand with the lithe blonde woman. They were followed by a classy brunette, wearing a lovely dress that fit her figure perfectly and wore a smile that seemed to make everyone feel at home. Eliot grabbed Cassandra’s hand and took her over to a table, where the others were.  
     “Hey guys, this is Cassandra, the girl I told you about.” There were hellos from around the table right as the man from the bar came over and sat down next to the brunette.       “Cassie, this is Hardison, Parker, Sophie, and Nate. They are my family.”  
     “I’ve heard so much about you all. It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”  
     “Are you and Eliot dating?” asked Parker.  
     “Parker, you don’t ask that. You wait until Eliot tells you,” Sophie gently chided the younger woman. “I’m so sorry, Cassandra. We are still going over proper etiquette when meeting new people.”  
     Cassandra, however, was laughing at the face Eliot was making at his friends. She barely had any breath to respond to Sophie. “It’s okay. A lot of my coworkers are the same way. I can’t tell you how many awkward conversations I have had to have.”  
     “Ooh, I like her. She’s the calm to your storm, Eliot.”  
     “Hardison. I am going to wring your neck, I swear.” Eliot grabbed the tall man’s collar and dragged him away from Parker. Rather than stop him from any potentially deadly activity, all of Eliot’s friends simply ignored them, and started looking over the menu.  
     Cassandra felt a little tug on her purse. She looked next to her and saw that the young blonde, Parker was sitting next to her. She saw her lean over and give something to Hardison. Cassie had spent enough time around Ezekiel to know exactly what that little tug meant.  
     The redhead held out her hand and wiggled her fingers a little. “Parker, Hardison, can I have my wallet and phone back please?”  
     All the five other people sitting at the table looked at Cassandra in surprise. “How did you know that we had those?” Parker looked at her, impressed and then put the floral-patterned wallet in Cassandra’s hands while Hardison gave her the phone back.  
     Cassie looked around, suddenly self-conscious about her actions with everyone looking at her. “Um, my coworker likes to steal my stuff. He enjoys picking my pockets and picking all of locks, not to mention hacking into my electronics. I’ve gotten used to stopping him.”  
     “Parker is the best thief I have ever met or heard of. Not many people could have noticed her stealing their stuff. Who do you work with?” Nate asked.  
     “Oh, um, his name is Ezekiel.”  
     “Wait, are you talking about _the_ Ezekiel Jones? The one who stole from the Tower of London without leaving any evidence or setting off any alarms until they took inventory that night. This guy has a long history of breaking into places just for bragging rights. He hacked into the Pentagon when he was twelve years old.” Hardison was looking on his phone as he spat out facts about her coworker, facts she didn’t necessarily want to know.  
     Cassandra looked around, facts about this restaurant finally clicking into place. “You guys are Leverage, aren’t you? The thieves that travel around and play Robin Hood for people in need. That means you must be Sophie Devereaux and Nathan Ford. And you, Eliot, are Eliot Spencer.”  
     “Well, yeah, I guess we are. Although, to be fair, Sophie and I are retired. We just come and check on these three every once in a while, and only help on the really big and difficult cases,” Nate said, putting his arm around Sophie.  
     “So, why exactly do you work with a world-renowned thief, Cassandra?” Hardison asked. Both Eliot and Sophie looked interested, Nate looked like he already knew, and Parker was busy picking a lock.  
     “Well, I’m a Librarian. I work for a branch of the Metropolitan Library here in Portland. My team and I travel all over the world collecting data for the archives there.”  
     “Why would a Library need to hire a thief?” Parker asked without even looking up.  
     “It’s a special Library. We sometimes get into situations where we need someone to sneak around. Unfortunately, Ezekiel tends to be the one who gets us into those situations in the first place.”  
     “Especially when it’s a Library full of the most priceless artifacts in the world. Things like the Judas Chalice, The Spear of Destiny, Excalibur, and the Holy Grail,” Nate said as he took a swig of whiskey.  
     Cassandra felt her face pale. As far as she knew, nobody but the Librarians, the Guardians, and the Caretaker knew about the Library. So how did the leader of a group of criminals know about the best kept secret in the world. If Cassandra somehow had let the secret out, Jenkins was going to roast her on a spit over the fire.  
     “Is it true? Cassandra, is it true?” Eliot asked.  
     Cassandra sighed. “I can’t really say whether or not it’s true. I just know I work for the Metropolitan Library and I haven’t seen the Judas Chalice or the Holy Grail hidden among the books and research.”  
     Parker was no longer focused on the locks in front of her, but was watching Cassandra very closely. “Are unicorns real? What about dragons? Have you met Santa?”  
     “Pa-Parker, just stop. She already said that she couldn’t really talk about it.”  
     “Well, maybe I can bring my team in sometime and you can meet them. Jenkins or Flynn can tell you more about the Library and what we do. Besides, I’ve now met Eliot’s family, he should meet mine.”  
     Eliot gave her a smile. “I would like that very much. And, I would like to meet this Eve Baird and Jenkins.”  
     “I’m pretty sure that I can find out everything you need to know about your team in the next few minutes,” Hardison muttered as he pulled out his phone.  
     However, the young man soon had that same phone grabbed from his hand by Sophie and then watched in horror as she dropped the phone into her glass of wine.  “Hardison, she offered to bring her friends here. They are not marks, so we will politely observe their privacy. Anything they want to tell us, they can. It’s how we treat friends.” Eliot just put his head in his arms and started banging his head.  
     “Come on. I can’t be around these people for one more second. I need to be around someone with common sense and be able to hold an intelligent conversation.” Eliot stood up and dragged Cassandra over to the bar, ignoring his friends’ stares.  
     Cassandra giggled, and let herself be led away. “It was nice meeting you all. I hope we get to meet again very soon.”  
     The two adults sat at the bar, drinking a couple of beers, talking to each other, long after his friends came over to say good night. Cassie was absolutely delighted with his family and told him as much.  
     “They are great, but they tend to get under your nerves very easily.”  
     The redhead smiled. “You know, I never really had a family growing up. My parents saw me as more of an experiment or a student, rather than their child. And I never had any siblings or got to see my cousins. But I think that a family exists to support you when you’re feeling low and bother you at all other times. You can’t help but love them. I wish I had had that.”  
     Eliot set his beer down and then gently squeezed her hand. “Well, you’ve got your team now. And you’ve got me. And if I can help it, I won’t be goin’ anywhere for a very long time. So, you’re stuck with me, Cassie, for the rest of your life. As long as you want me to be, that is.”  
     “You’re one of the kindest men I have ever met. The others are a father figure and a grandfather figure respectively. So, I think it’s safe to say that I want you around.”  
They sat quietly at the bar for a moment, drinking in the sounds of the restaurant. Amy could be heard shouting various orders at the kitchen while Hardison was getting underfoot of the chefs. A soft country love song played over the speakers, creating a sense of peace in both Cassandra and Eliot.  
     However, Cassie was a little worried. She knew that Hardison would be looking her up, and would then proceed to tell Eliot everything about her. But certain details of her life were better shared in person than found on the internet. Which means, she needed to tell him everything, that night.  
     “Eliot, would you mind going for a walk with me?”  
     “Of course. Let me go let the crew know that I’m going out for a while.”  
     Cassandra waited patiently by the door for a few moments, and then gave Eliot a big smile when he came back, two thermoses in his hands. “Thought it would be nice to have a little something to help keep us warm. It gets a little cold at night.”  
     She took the thermos he handed to her with a quiet thanks and sampled the drink. It was his hot chocolate, made to perfection and just how she liked it. His, she guessed, would be coffee, drank black.  
     They walked a short way to a nearby park before Cassie dared to speak. “I figured Hardison would probably look me up on the internet tonight. And the things he would find, well, let’s just say I would feel better if you found out from me and not from him.”  
     “As long as you’re not out to kill me or any of my friends, or anyone really, I think we would be okay,” Eliot responded.  
     Cassandra took a deep breath. “I told you that I am a math genius. I have been since I was little. And my parents decided that I should be trained from a young age to excel in everything. I was going to be their star.  
     “All of that changed when I was fifteen years old. I began seeing the numbers and equations floating around in the air and started having seizures. I developed synesthesia. My parents got really scared and took me to a specialist. They told me that I had a brain tumor in my frontal lobe. A tumor that was completely inoperable. I had a death sentence in my head and there was nothing anyone could do about it.  
     “My parents decided that I wasn’t worth their time or effort anymore. They spent their time working instead of trying to help their little girl cope with her own death sentence. Eventually, rather than graduate from high school and go on to go to Harvard, I started working as a janitor in a hospital. That way if I had a seizure or if I died, I was in a place where they could help.  
     “Then my team found me and took me in. A year ago, a neurologist in New York found that my tumor had grown in size and that I had days to live. He gave me a chance, and my friends decided to take me into surgery when I passed out. The tumor was gone, but I still am a synesthete.”  
     Eliot listened carefully to her story, giving her the respect of his full attention. His face wouldn’t betray a single emotion throughout the telling of her story. And when she was done, he sat in silence for a few moments.  
     “So, does that mean that you still see numbers in the air?”  
     “Along with hearing music while I do science. I used to not be able to control it, but now it’s bigger and I can tell it when to go away if I don’t get in to deeply.”  
     Eliot took Cassandra’s hand in his own and led her over to a park bench. “And you’re sure it’s gone? You aren’t going to die on me are you?”  
     “No. I’m healthy now. I’m going to be sticking around for as long as you’ll keep me. A brain tumor, even if it’s a one that was removed, is not something most people want to stick around for.”  
     “It sure isn’t a problem for me. As long as you feel you can stick around with all of my baggage. I mean, I work with a bunch of thieves and I hit people for a living.”  
     Cassandra leaned against Eliot’s shoulder. “You help people. I’d say that makes you a hero, at least in my eyes.”  
     They sat together, looking at the stars, waiting for the moon to rise. Two kindred spirits feeling their souls connect.


	4. A Clash of Brothers

     Cassandra had been giddy for the past three months and if anyone asked her what she was so happy about, she would just smile and say she had found a new favorite restaurant. None of them really believed her, but just accepted that Cassie was happy.  
     However, after their last case left them all dealing with the guilt of not being in time to help several people. There were several bodies left in the town as a result of the artifact. Cassandra was in the mood for a healthy dose of Eliot, and some of his hot chocolate that never failed to lift her spirits. And she figured that everyone else could use that same atmosphere that the brewpub provided.  
     Eve, Ezekiel, Jenkins, and Flynn had all agreed to go already. She only needed to convince Jake to join them. He was sitting in his favorite plush armchair with a book full of information on Picasso’s Blue Age. She approached him as if he was a wounded animal.  
     “Hey, Jacob, would you like to come with us to the Bridgeport Brewpub?” Cassie asked.  
     “No thanks. I would prefer to just relax after this last case.”  
     Cassandra face fell, and she turned away, ready to go follow the others over to the restaurant. “You know, Jake, I had hoped that you would be able to come with us. You know, spend time with your team. Besides, this place has the best food in Portland, and the best company.”  
     “Look, Cassie, I’m sure the food is very good, but I just don’t feel like being around a lot of people today.”  
     “I get that. But maybe being around people who know you will help you. Besides, I can introduce you to the friends that I made.”  
      Jacob sighed and closed his book. “Cassie, can you just let it go? I need to be alone for a while.”  
     Cassandra nodded and left the room, deciding that it wasn’t worth starting a fight over. “Just know that the load is easier to carry if you let your friends help you. You know where we’ll be.”  
     The three Librarians, their Guardian, and the Caretaker all headed over to the brewpub in Eve’s car. With Flynn and Ezekiel in the backseat with her, and it was exciting trying to keep Flynn from tearing the throat out of their thief. While she was also very frustrated with Ezekiel, but it wasn’t worth the thief’s life.  
     Once they arrived at the brewpub, Cassandra led the way inside, keeping an eye out for either Amy or Eliot, trying to find her friends. “Hey Amy! Guess what? I managed to convince my coworkers to come try the food here.”  
     The waitress bounced over to give Cassandra a hug, careful not to spill the coffee pot. “I’m so glad. You guys are going to love this place. Cassandra, I have a large table open near the kitchen. Eliot had a bit of a rough case this week and he gave all of the other chef’s the day off. He’s in the kitchen cooking enough food to feed an army. Maybe you should go talk to him before he starts baking the lasagna and the quiche.”  
     “Yeppers. You guys go sit down. I’m gonna go talk to the chef.”  
     Ezekiel put his hand on her arm before she moved towards the kitchen door. “Hey, do you have any suggestions? You know, since you’ve been here so many times.”  
     Cassandra gave them a smile. “If you trust me, I’ll order for all of you. I’ve had all of the food on the Chef’s pick menu and it’s all delicious.”  
     They all exchanged glances and then Eve spoke, “Sounds good. Just make sure that you don’t order anything-”  
     “Anything with peanuts. Cause Flynn is allergic. I know,” Cassandra said as she knocked on the door of the kitchen.  
     She watched as Eliot moved around the kitchen, preparing various dishes. Normally, watching him work was like watching an artist paint or a dancer dance the Nutcracker. Today, it was more like watching Colonel Baird take down armed goons as quickly as she could. It was less an art and more a fight.  
     “Hey Eliot.” she said, smiling softly. He turned towards her, still stirring the pan of sauce that he had in his hand. He set the pan on the stove and set it to simmer, then wiped his hands on the towel on his shoulder.  
     “Cassie. I’m glad you’re here. I needed to see you tonight. It was a rough case this week, and our clients still had to start their lives over. For us, we lost.”  
     “Oh, Eliot, I’m so sorry.” Cassie walked up and gave him a hug, knowing that he needed to know that life was okay and that she still cared about him. “Is there anything I can do?”  
     “Just having you here is making a difference. I assume Amy sent you in so I would stop cooking?”  
     “She was a little concerned that you were trying to bury the brewpub in Italian and breakfast foods. But I figured, whatever food isn’t used can be taken down to the food pantry or soup kitchen. Cooking helps you unwind, and that’s a lot better than keeping all those emotions in and buried.”  
     “Well, would you like to accompany me tonight to deliver the food to the homeless shelter? After all, that is a great idea.”  
     “I would love to.” She just held onto Eliot for a few more minutes, feeling his body slowly relax and melt into her arms. “Is there anything that would burn if you don’t take care of it right now?”  
     “Just let me get this sauce off of the stove and then I will be free. Why, what do you have in mind?”  
     “I have finally convinced most of my coworkers to come try your food. All but one. They are at the table closest to the door. Oh, and I’m going to order for them.”  
     Eliot grinned and pulled his sauce off of the stove, then grabbed Cassie’s hand and followed her out of the kitchen. He immediately took stock of the way the group was interacting. They all seemed to look to the tall blonde woman as the authority figure. Eve Baird, he figured. She looked like she could handle herself in a high stress situation. She would make herself a valuable friend and a dangerous enemy.  
     The other combatant at the table was the older man. Jenkins, he assumed. The guy looked like a harmless old man, but he carried himself like he knew that any threat he faced would not offer a problem. The other two looked like they had seen combat situations, but they were not trained. The younger one must be Ezekiel Jones, the thief. Which left the older one to be Jake or Flynn.  
     “Hey everyone, this is my friend Eliot. He is the best chef you will ever meet. Eliot, this is Eve Baird, Flynn, Jenkins, and Ezekiel.”  
     They all said hello and scooted their chairs around to make room for the two of them. Cassandra sat next to Ezekiel, figuring that the thief’s personality was likely going to annoy Eliot and maybe cause some kind of fight. Eliot sat on Cassandra’s other side next to Eve Baird. They sized each other up, each recognizing another fighter and exchanged a glance that said _I won’t start anything if you won’t_.  
     “So, Eliot, what is it that you do? Are you just the chef here?” Ezekiel asked.  
     “Not exactly. Cooking is my passion, something I do to clear my head. My day job is in the business of helping people who have nowhere else to turn.”  
     Eve looked at him a little more intensely, recognizing that he wasn’t telling them everything about his job and what he does. Helping people doesn’t usually involve beating them up, and he had the look of a hitter or killer for hire. But, since they were here for Cassandra, she decided not to call him out on it. To herself though, Eve vowed that if he hurt their red-headed math genius, she was going to personally make sure that Eliot would never see the light of day again.  
     “Alright, I think I figured out what everyone should have. Eve, you should try the Pasta Basil. Flynn, I think you’ll like the Indian Rice Platter, and Jenkins, you should have the Chicken Parmesan. Ezekiel should have the Thief Juice and Chicken Cordon Bleu. Those will be paired very nicely, I think.” Cassandra wrote down all the orders, making sure that her writing was legible.  
     “What about you? I think I have some Bread Ball Soup in the kitchen that I know you like.”  
     “Mmmm, now that sounds delicious. And can I get mugs of hot chocolate for everyone. Yours is the best in the world.”  
     “Of course. The rest of my team is in the back. I’m gonna send them out. Parker keeps asking me when she will get to see you again,” Eliot said. He stood up, squeezing Cassandra’s shoulder as he walked behind her chair.  
     “Oh yay! I’ve been looking forward to meeting them, too.”  
     Once Eliot disappeared through the door leading into the back of the restaurant, then Ezekiel turned to his fellow Librarian. “Are you dating him? Cause it seems that you guys are very cozy with each other. The only people I’ve seen that comfortable with each other is Flynn and Eve, here.”  
     Cassandra blushed, “No, we are not dating. Eliot is a great friend of mine, and we like spending time together, but I don’t think he likes me that way.”  
     Ezekiel gave her a long stare, knowing that she didn’t quite believe what she was saying. But if she wanted to stay in denial, then he wasn’t going to force the subject. “So, this thief juice sounds right up my alley. Is it any good?”  
     “Well, I think that it definitely is an exciting flavor.” Cassandra hid a smile behind her hand, making sure to turn away when he looked at her. Eve noticed the look and was amused. This was going to be a great evening following a crappy day.  
     Cassandra looked up when the back door banged open and an enthusiastic Parker came barreling through the door followed closely by her boyfriend. Sophie sauntered through the door, sipping a glass of wine.  
     “Cassandra, it’s so lovely to see you again. And is this your team?”  
     “Sophie, Parker, Hardison. It’s so nice to see you. This is Eve, Flynn, Jenkins, and Ezekiel. They work with me collecting data for the library.”  
     Their ex-thief was staring at the three newcomers in awe, as if he didn’t quite believe what he was seeing. “Are you really Parker? The greatest thief in the entire world? The one who stole the Hope Diamond and the Star of Nazareth? The one who was able to beat a Steranko security system, not once but twice? That Parker”?  
     “Yeah, well, you are Ezekiel Jones. I heard you got out of the business a few years ago, but I wasn’t sure until Cassandra mentioned you a week or so ago.” Parker motioned to the redhead as she took the chair Eliot had vacated. She reached across the table to grab pretzels from the bowl Flynn had taken over.  
     “And man were we excited to find out that you live in Portland. I mean, you are a legend, bro. Your whole family are made up of thieves and you’re better and more well-known than all of them,” Hardison said as he pulled up another two chairs, one for Sophie and one for him.  
     “If you are Hardison and Parker, that means you must be Sophie Devereaux, the greatest actress in the world. And that must also mean that Nathan Ford is around here somewhere. I’ve heard of your work in helping people. I think it’s brilliant. I mean Leverage is the meanest crew this side of the world, and is made up of the best thieves in the world. You guys are the legends.”  
     Cassie smiled at the younger man. It wasn’t very often that she had seen Ezekiel this excited about something besides breaking and entering. Although, this sort of counted since he was geeking out over a group of thieves.  
     “Wait, you’re a bunch of thieves? This brewpub is run on illegal money? I think I need to leave. If you want to stick around, that’s up to you, but I am not getting arrested because of association,” said Baird as she stood up.  
     “Eve, wait! They are good people. Yeah, they were once criminals, but they spend most of their time helping people who are ripped off by corporations. They help people when no one else can or will. And they never ask for any money from their clients. Leverage helps people for free, making sure that they have a good life,” Cassandra said to the Guardian. “It’s not that different from what we do.”  
     After heaving a huge sigh and muttering under her breath about how she was really going to regret this, Eve sat back down, keeping her eyes on the three newcomers. “I guess you’re right, Cassandra. After all, Ezekiel is a reformed thief and I don’t usually have a problem being around him.”  
     Sophie watched this exchange with interest. She had definitely noticed the difference in Eliot after he had met the lovely redhead, but she hadn’t realized that this girl shared his feelings. They were kindred spirits and soulmates, if there was such a thing. “I think, that we should all just get to know one another before we all jump to conclusions. After all, Colonel Baird, I know that you are just as much of a risk for us as we are for you. And I don’t know about you, but after helping these three with their latest case, I could use some civilized conversation and a chance to relax and de-stress.”  
     Cassandra watched as the two halves of her world seemed to collide and then mesh. She had never been able to introduce her coworkers to any friends before, since she had never really had any prior to Portland. And the two groups had very similar dynamics, and would certainly clash more than once over the course of the evening. Right now, though, she wanted to go spend some time with Eliot in the kitchen.  
     Before Cassie could stand up, however, Amy appeared at her elbow and motioned toward the door. “This guy says he knows you and would like to join your table. Is it okay if I bring him over?”  
     The man indicated, was none other than Jacob Stone. He had decided to come after all and was standing, waiting to be seated by the waitress. Cassandra nodded and waved him over, calling over the din of voices, “Jacob, we’re over here. Come on!”  
     He walked over, keen eyes picking out the faces of three strangers at the table with his friends. Doubtless, these would be some of Cassie’s friends that she had wanted to introduce them to. He put on a smile, trying to hide his unease with the situation.  
     “You came! Oh, I am so glad. Everyone, this is Jacob Stone. Jacob this is Sophie, Hardison, and Parker. And this is Amy, the one I’ve been going to the movies with. Here, come sit down.” Cassie dragged on his arm during her hurried introductions and made him sit down on the chair Amy had dragged over.  
     Just then, Eliot walked out, holding several plates of food on his arms. “Alright, here is your food and let me know what you guys think. Amy, can you go get Ezekiel his Thief Juice? Cassie, your bowl of soup and the mugs are in the kitchen still. I’ll bring them out”  
     He broke off when his eyes landed on the newest member of the group. At his sudden silence, Jake looked up at the chef and looked equally surprised and shocked. “Eliot? Is that really you?”  
     “Jake, I can’t believe that you’re here. I never thought I would see you again,” Eliot whispered in a voice full of relief and fear. His teammates all looked at him in confusion, and Cassie put a hand on his arm. She looked between the two men, noticing once again the similarities in their faces.  
     “I take it, you two know each other?” Sophie asked.  
     “Guys look! It’s another Eliot!” Parker said, hiding a giggle.  
     “Jake is my younger brother. I haven’t seen him-”  
     “Since you walked out on us twenty years ago. Eliot, where have you been? I didn’t even think you were still alive. Why didn’t you at least send a letter or call once in a while?”  Jake stood up slowly, looking his brother in the eye. “I had to carry the family for eighteen years, because pop didn’t want another son turning prodigal. I only got away five years ago.”  
     Eliot looked broken. He had tears in his eyes and a haunted look, very similar to the one he wore when he told his team about working with Damien Moreau. “I couldn’t. Pop said to never contact any of you again or he would shoot me. I was eighteen, and our dad told me he would kill me if he ever saw my face again. I enlisted in the US Army.”  
     “Not good enough. You could have talked to me, to one of our sisters. You could have told us you were alive. And now, after all these years, you’re right here.”  
     “Jake, I think you should calm down. We are in a restaurant,” Cassie said, trying to placate her teammate. But he shrugged off her words.  
     “You know, I can see why you get along with him, Cillian. I mean, the man who betrayed and abandoned his family and the girl who betrayed us the first chance she got. You guys are perfect for each other.” Jake shook his head and chuckled darkly to himself. “And just when I was beginning to trust ya, to like ya. I should never have come here.” Jake turned and walked out, leaving everyone at the table in stunned silence.  
     Cassandra felt tears running down her face as she watched her friend leave. The redhead looked at Eliot, and her heart dropped. His face was a mask, no emotion showing as he also watched his brother leave. And just as abruptly as that brother, he turned and stalked through the back door.  
     “Well, that was definitely unexpected,” Sophie said quietly.  
     “I think I should go after Stone. I’ll try to get him to talk to me and cool down,” Eve said, grabbing her coat and the keys from Ezekiel. Flynn stood up and followed her out the door.  
     Parker and Hardison both looked at the rest of the group, still shocked by what had happened. “Eliot has a brother. He never told us about a brother. Man, that’s gotta be hard on him to hear that from his own flesh and blood,” Hardison said.  
     Cassie wiped her cheeks free of tears and stood up. “Amy, would you mind finding something to put the food in. I think Jenkins and Ezekiel should probably head back home, and while they might not be able to eat here, the food is still good.”  
     Her friend nodded and scurried off to find styrofoam containers to put the food in for the other two Librarians. Ezekiel, to his credit, didn’t protest and just went along with Jenkins quietly when a cab pulled up to take them back to the Annex. He seemed to understand that talking was not in his best interest at that moment.  
     But before he left the restaurant, the thief turned back to Cassandra. “I’m so sorry, Red. I’m sorry this didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. I’m sure Baird will be able to talk some sense into Stone. Are you going to be alright?”  
     Not trusting her voice to speak, Cassie simply nodded and gave her friend a hug. Then she handed him the bag full of the food. “You still need to try the Thief Juice. Maybe sometime, you’d like to come here with me, just the two of us?”  
     “I’d like that, Cassie. I think your friends are great. Take care of yourself. And take care of Eliot Spencer, too. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who needs people very often, but I think you’ll be able to help him.”  
     The thief left the Bridgeport Brewpub, following after the old Caretaker. Cassandra took a deep breath and headed back to the table, aware that there were several pairs of eyes watching her. The brothers’ argument had been pretty loud and had gained the attention of the other customers.  
     Arriving at the table, she stood straight, her eyes beseeching the Leverage crew to understand. “I am so sorry for that. I had no idea that Jake and Eliot were related and that there would be bad blood between the two of them.”  
     Sophie gave the woman a soft smile and placed her hand over the other’s. “Go to him. He will most likely be up on the roof. He likes to see the stars when he’s upset.”  
     “Thank you,” Cassie said. “Thank you for everything.”  
     “You know, whatever happens with your teammate, you will have a place with us. Eliot cares for you, and he doesn’t care for many people. And you’re the only one who can help him right now.” Hardison stood up and walked into the kitchen. He emerged with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and handed them to Cassandra.  
     “I’ll show you where to go. It can be kind of a maze back there,” Parker said, as her way of showing her support.  
     Cassandra followed the blonde woman through the doors. Ordinarily, she would be fascinated to see what the headquarters of Leverage Incorporated would look like, but she was far too distracted to pay attention to their surroundings. The two women went through a doorway and up a flight of stairs. Once they reached the door at the top, Parker stopped and pulled Cassandra into a hug.  
     The action seemed to startle both of them. “You know, you’re a good person. And it was not nice of Eliot’s brother to say those things about you.” Parker stepped back and walked down the stairs, giving Cassandra some privacy.  
     After taking one, two, three deep breaths, Cassie slowly opened the door. She could see the outline of Eliot against the stars. He was leaning against the ledge of the roof, looking down at the street below him.  
     “Eliot, is it okay if I join you?” Cassie asked, her voice soft and gentle.  
     He didn’t speak, only nodded at her, still facing away. She walked over and stood by him, trying to see what he was looking at. On the street, she could see Eve and Jake having a heated argument next to Ezekiel’s car. The thief and Jenkins were nowhere to be seen, having already left to go back to the Annex.”  
     “Our pop had wanted me to run his business someday, but that just wasn’t what I was meant to do. I told him no, more than once. He and I were always getting into fights, though I would at least try to keep my voice down. I knew Jake and my sisters heard, and they were scared. But I was being suffocated. I was eighteen years old when I decided to enlist in the army and leave our small town in Oklahoma. Pop, of course, took it the hardest and we had another argument. Our argument escalated until he punched me, right in the jaw. I left then. I figured that he cared about all of the other kids, and with me gone, he would be able to go back to being a good father. I left that night and never looked back. I couldn’t stay with Pop anymore. I was eighteen and my father had punched me and pulled out his shotgun to drive me off of his property.  
     “Jake was thirteen when I left. He was starting to play football for his junior high school and trying to hide the fact that he was smarter than any adult we had ever known in that town. Our pop had always loved Jake and would always tell me that I should be more like him. I figured he would be okay. I should have known better.” Eliot told his story quietly, barely above a whisper. Cassandra felt her heart break yet again for these two brothers.  
     “I’m really sorry about tonight. If I had known Jacob would react like that, I would have never invited him here,” Cassie whispered as she set the two mugs of hot chocolate in front of them.  
     “It’s not your fault, Cassie. There is no way you could have known. And I’m sorry he dragged you into our mess.”  
     Cassandra’s heart broke for Eliot. He was being torn apart and it was all her fault. “No, don’t. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’ve hurt Jake in the past, and he probably sees this as me betraying him again. He probably expected me to run out after him, apologizing.”  
     “Instead, you came and found me. Why, Cassie? I’ve only known you for a few months, while you’ve known my brother for several years. Why would you choose to follow me?”  
     She grabbed his hand and linked their fingers together, gently rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand. “I care about you. You only ever saw me. Not the freaky math girl, not the girl with a death sentence in her head, not the girl who would betray people she had just met when given the opportunity to live. You saw me. You get me. And I’d like to think that I understand you.”  
     Eliot turned from the argument he had been watching and pulled Cassandra into his arms, wrapping her in his warmth. “You will always be enough for me. I don’t need a lot of things, but I need you Cassie. I like you. I care about you. And not even my little brother can change how I feel.”  
     They stood there in the moonlight, drinking in each other’s presence and relaxing. Cassandra still felt horrible about the showdown in the restaurant, but she also knew that what she had with Eliot, whatever it was, was priceless and precious. And above all, it was peaceful. In her mind, Cassie was thinking that just maybe, she would love to spend the rest of her life with this man. _Maybe Ezekiel was right. Maybe there is something here that we could build on_.


	5. Shiner

     Cassandra was fuming. They had had three cases, one after another and Jacob Stone had been ignoring her for all of them. Not to mention, she had barely gotten any sleep in the past four days and hadn’t had a proper meal in that same amount of time. On this last case, she had been captured and trapped in a mirror dimension with no way to contact her teammates, but was able to see and hear everything that had happened.  
     She saw when Ezekiel noticed that she was missing and Baird’s frantic search for her. And she was able to see when Jake suggested that maybe Cassandra had ditched them, rather than deal with the danger. That had broken her heart. She may not be in love with Jacob, but he was still one of her closest friends. Or had been up until that night at the restaurant.  
     Flynn had finally figured out what had happened and had been able to rescue their math girl. But it had cost them a lot of time, and Ezekiel ended up with a broken arm in the process.  
     Now, Cassandra Cillian was ready to face Jake and ask him what his deal was. She searched the entire Library and Annex and finally found him in a room full of literature on art through the ages.  
     “Stone, can we talk?” she said as she marched over to him.  
     “Cillian, this is a really bad time right now.” The art historian turned away from her and went to reshelf some of the books he had been reading.  
     “No, this is a good time. I need to know why you’ve been avoiding me. I know you’re upset, but we are adults, and I thought we were at least friends.”  
     Jake heaved a sigh. “Look, my brother is not a good man. Ezekiel told me some of what he’s done. And you decided to support him and back him instead of me. If we were friends, I woulda thought you would try to support me.”  
     “I would have if you had a valid opinion. Eliot’s work helps people, in the same way we do. You’re just too biased to see it,” Cassandra huffed. She didn’t understand why Jake could be so close-minded about the wonderful man she had befriended.  
     “I’m not having this conversation with you, Cassie,” Jake growled as he pushed past her and out into the main section of the Library.  
     “When will we have this conversation? When we are both dying?” She ran and caught his arm, spinning him around towards her. “I’ve spent my whole life alone. My parents wouldn’t even treat me like I was human after I got my tumor. I would have given anything to have a brother. Anything. And you are just going to throw that away?”  
     “It’s his choice. He walked away all those years ago, he made his bed. Now he has to live with it.”  
     Cassandra was livid. Without even thinking about it, she cocked her arm back and threw a punch that had all of her terror and loneliness of the past few weeks and her whole life before the Library behind it. She clocked Jacob right in his eye then stalked off to the Annex, not caring to look back and see what damage she had done.  
     

     That night, she went to the brewpub, hoping to find Eliot there. But when she got there, not only was Amy not working, but Leverage was off on a case, meaning that all of her new friends were nowhere to be found. She looked down at her hand, the only physical evidence of her argument with Jacob that day. The punch that she had given him had left bruises along the knuckles of her right hand.  
     Tears welled up in her eyes, and she bit back a sob. The words Jake had said to her, ran through her head over and over again. _The girl who betrayed us first chance she got. She probably ditched us. Couldn’t handle the danger._ Before that night here in the brewpub, she would have said that Cassandra and Jacob were friends, that they trusted each other to do the right thing. Now, she realized that he still harbored a grudge against her.  
     Cassandra sat at the bar, nursing her beer and trying not to cry or drown herself in alcohol, when she felt someone sit next to her. She glanced over and saw Ezekiel sitting on the stool next to her. He ordered a beer for himself and a second to replace Cassandra’s almost empty one.  
     The two friends sat in silence for a few minutes before Ezekiel ventured to speak. “That was quite a shiner you gave Stone. He walked into the Annex and Baird thought that maybe someone had broken into the Library again. But I gotta say, he had it coming and I’m glad that you punched him. Maybe that will get him off of his high horse.”  
     Cassie gave a watery chuckle. It would have been rather funny to see the cowboy come in with a bruised eye and find out that it was the weak and pathetic math girl that had punched him.  
     “You know, on our last case, when I was trapped in the mirror realm, I could see and hear everything that happened to you guys. I could see when danger was coming towards you and I couldn’t do anything about it. But I also heard what Jake was saying about me and how I would always let you guys down.” Cassandra said in a whisper, not really sure if Ezekiel could hear her or not.  
     “That is ridiculous. You’re always there for us and you would never let us down.”  
     “Except that I did once. I betrayed all of you. I killed Flynn. He was dead when I pressed Excalibur to him. I lost the Library. I did all of these horrible things, and you all suffered for it. Stone saw that from the beginning. He never trusted me since, and he was probably right to do so.”  
     “Again, that is ridiculous. If he doesn’t trust you after the dozens of times you have saved his life, then he is the one who you shouldn’t count on. The second you tried to get him to listen to reason, he flew off the handle at you. That wasn’t fair to you or to Eliot.”  
     “Eliot is a good man. He made some bad decisions when he was younger, but he is spending his time now, helping people, saving people. And his team is wonderful. I love Sophie and Parker and Hardison. They are such kind-hearted and lovely people. I just wish Jake would give his brother a second chance.” Cassie sniffed and wiped at her eyes. She could feel the beginning of a headache coming on, and could already tell that it was going to be a bad one.  
     “Stone isn’t really one to give people second chances. But maybe your punch convinced him otherwise. Besides, I heard what both brothers said that night. Eliot said that his own father threatened to kill him if he ever came back. And Jake just waved that aside like it didn’t matter. No one should have to deal with a death threat from a parent.”  
     Cassandra downed the last of her second beer and stood up, trying to grab the attention of the bartender. When he finally came over, she gave Ezekiel a smile and said, “Hey, can you get some Thief Juice for my friend here and a hot chocolate for me. Thank you.”  
     The bartender gave her a curious look, but decided to not say anything. There had been several people who would order stuff from Hardison’s menu for their friends as a joke, and he decided that it was a harmless prank. Besides, he always thought their initial reaction faces were hilarious.  
     To Ezekiel, Cassie said, “I know you’re right. I just can’t help but hear Jake’s voice saying those things, over and over again in my head.”  
     “How about, we forget about Stone and Eliot and everyone else for tonight, and just spend some quality time together. You’re my best friend, and I thought for sure that we had lost you for good when you disappeared into the mirror realm.”  
     “Just as long as you don’t consider quality time going around and stealing people’s wallets.” Their drinks arrived and Cassandra raised her mug topped with whipped cream and cinnamon up to toast Ezekiel. He raised his glass, and took a deep swig. Rather than drink her own drink, Cassandra eagerly watched to see what the thief’s reaction would be. She was not disappointed.  
     Ezekiel coughed and gagged, only barely managing to not spit the drink all over the floor and his companion, which Cassie certainly appreciated. He desperately asked the bartender for water or anything that would wash down the horrible flavor of the beer Hardison had created and Parker had named.  
     Cassandra started to giggle, which soon turned to full-body laughing. Her emotions had been so tightly strung all day, that the chance to let loose was a welcome one, and she took full advantage of it. Ezekiel gave her a glare, before breaking down and laughing along with her.  
     “That was horrible. I’m not sure what was in that drink, but remind me to never let you order me anything without me finding out exactly what it is.” But he gave Cassandra a one-armed hug anyway.  
     “Don’t worry. I’ve already tried. It’s like a rite of passage here. You have to try one of Hardison’s creations at least once, and then you are accepted into the family. But a word of advice, don’t ever order anything from Hardison’s menu. He likes to put anchovies and pineapple on the same pizza. You want good food, let Eliot cook for you.”  
     “Now that sounds like a plan to me. No more food from Hardison. But you have to let me have a taste of that hot chocolate.” Ezekiel reached for Cassandra’s mug and she gave it up without a fight. She figured she owed him that, since she did make him try the disgusting beer without his knowledge.  
     They sat together for a couple more hours, talking about everything and nothing. They both needed the companionship the other provided and by the end of the night, Cassandra’s spirits were lifted. Her headache, however, had escalated to a migraine. She eventually called it a night and grabbed a cab back to the Annex while Ezekiel went out in search of a night club.  
     When she got to her room, Cassie was hit with a wall of nausea and dizziness, and she found herself on the ground, clutching her head. The pain rolled through her body, and she felt a drip come from her nose. Peeling her eyes open, Cassie looked at the drop and saw that it was red. Then, she lost all consciousness.


	6. Falling in Love

     The next morning, Cassie woke up with the mother of all headaches, and feeling as if she had been run over by a train. It was still early enough that no one else was up, and she quickly got dressed. That spell that had happened the night before terrified her. She walked into the Annex and fiddled with the settings of the Back Door and walked through to New York. It was time for her monthly check-up with the neurologist, and she went to the hospital to go to her appointment. It was lucky that her headache and spell had coincided with her appointment, because there was no way any of the other Librarians would have believed her if she decided to go off on her own for the day.  
     Hours later, she emerged from the office, her face completely drained of color and her eyes tinged red. Her tumor had come back and was more aggressive than it ever was before. She had maybe a year left before her brain killed her. She went outside and walked around Central Park, not really paying attention to where she was going. It was as if Cassandra was in a trance.  
     A ringing cell phone seemed to wake her up, and she answered it without looking at who was calling her. “Hello?”  
     “Cassandra, where are you? You were gone when I woke up, and we haven’t been able to find you anywhere,” Baird’s voice shouted at her through the phone. The noise made her head pound, but she pushed the pain back and focused on responding to her Guardian.  
     “I’m alright, Colonel Baird. My clippings book went off early this morning, and I figured I could handle the case. It was a small one. I’m done and coming back now. Expect me to be back at the Annex in about half an hour. And tell Jenkins to set the Back Door to New York.” Cassandra was proud of how steady her voice sounded. Sure, she sounded a little tired, but that was to be expected for an early morning case.  
     She arrived back at the Annex to find Ezekiel playing with Baby Nessie and Eve organizing the desk she and Flynn shared. Jenkins was tinkering in his lab, and Jacob was nowhere to be seen. Her family was here, and they cared so much about her. When her tumor had gone critical a year ago, they had rushed to her side and not left the hospital until she was awake and recovering from her surgery. Normally, Cassie would want to share this kind of news with everyone, but with the tension in the air lately, she just wanted to handle the news by herself at first.  
     Cassandra knew that wasn’t fair to her friends, but it was how she dealt with her own personal grief. And she needed to grieve. She thought she would grow old, but now, that was taken from her.   
      _First, I gain a family, and then I go and betray them. They finally seem to accept me, and then I lose Jake. He will probably never want to see me again. I just found a man I could love and live my life with and then I find out I will die in a year. Life just isn’t fair._  
     “Hey, I’m glad you’re back. Jenkins was driving us nuts, and I think Stone was about to go homicidal maniac on me. It’s nice to have someone around here who appreciates my genius,” Ezekiel said as he tossed a ball across the tank for the little lake monster to chase after.  
     “Thanks, Ezekiel. Eve, I think I’m going to call this a me-day. I need to spend time away from the Annex if that’s okay,” Cassie said, wringing her hands as she hoped that Colonel Baird would accept her request.  
     “Just as long as you keep your phone on in case we get a big case,” Eve said without looking up from the desk.  
     “Oh, and say hi to Eliot for me,” the thief added.  
     Cassandra gave them both a smile and agreed before walking out of the Annex and into Oregon. She took the Library car into Portland and drove around, taking in the various sights. She tried to ignore the numbers and colors that kept swirling around her, and focus solely on the beauty of the city. But it was difficult. Finally, she found herself at the Bridgeport Brewpub, but rather than go in, she walked a short way to the park where she had told Eliot of her brain tumor that gone and now was back. She sat on a bench and finally let the sobs overtake her. She cried for losing a friend in Jake, cried for losing her life, cried for the return of her worst nightmare.  
     She didn’t know how long she sat on that park bench, sobbing her heart out. Her body had long ago grown numb from the cold, and her tears had finally dried out. She stood up and swayed on her feet. Her head was pounding, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the tumor or from crying. Either way, she was ready to face humanity. Or at least see if Eliot was there.  
     The Brewpub was just across the street and Cassandra wandered over there, trying to make herself look presentable. She walked into the door and immediately saw that the Leverage crew was back. Sophie and Nate were absent, but she remembered Nate telling her that they had retired a few years back, and only joined them on the hardest cases. Hardison and Parker, however, were sitting at the bar, enjoying some food that Eliot had made for them. Amy was helping some customers.  
     Eliot had had a few successful days on their most recent job. But he missed spending time with Cassie. He hadn’t heard from her in a while, basically since the night on the roof, and he was worried that maybe she had decided he wasn’t worth her time any more. Any time he spoke to Hardison about it though, he would search Cassandra’s phone and ping her GPS all across the world. So, she had probably been extremely busy. Eliot could only hope that his little brother wasn’t giving the redhead a hard time.  
     He walked out of the kitchen with his own celebratory plate of food, eager to dig in when he saw Cassandra emerging from the bathroom. Immediately, his whole mood brightened and a smile spread across his face. Hardison looked at him and then looked around, spotting the redhead.  
     “See, I told ya, y’all were fine. She was just busy. Maybe today you can see if she’ll admit to working for this top-secret Library.” Hardison grabbed his plate of food and motioned for Parker to follow him to the back of the restaurant. “Don’t do what I wouldn’t do, Eliot.”  
     Eliot gave the hacker a good-natured growl as he set down his plate of food and went back into the kitchen to make a second plate. The rich aromas of the Italian dish made his stomach grumble. When he went back out, he saw Cassandra sitting in the seat next to where he had set his food.  
     “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while,” Eliot said as he set down the plate in front of her.  
     “Yeah, my team and I have been traveling almost non-stop, gathering,” she paused for a second, then continued, “data for our projects.”  
     “Is that where you got those bruised knuckles?”  
     Cassandra looked down at her right hand, having completely forgotten about her argument with Stone the day before and the injury that had accompanied it. She gave a wry chuckle. “I had forgotten about that. No, I got these bruises when I punched your brother in the eye.”  
     Eliot set his fork down in surprise. “Not many people have ever managed to land a punch on Jake. What happened?”  
     “He’s been ignoring and avoiding me for the past few weeks, which makes our job more difficult and dangerous. So, I decided to talk to him. But I realized, you should never try to talk to someone as untrusting and stubborn as Jacob Stone when you are already mad at him. I told him that he shouldn’t throw away a relationship with you. I would have given anything to have a sibling when I was younger, and he was willingly throwing his away. Then he threw some of my words back in my face. I just got mad, and punched him. Ezekiel said I gave him a nice shiner, too.”  
     “Well, good for you. If he hurt you in anyway, you let me know. I don’t care if he is my brother, no one should hurt you.”  
     Cassandra almost started crying again, just hearing Eliot. He was so kind and sweet, so generous. She pushed the noodles around on her plate, not really focusing on the food in front of her. Cassie had been known to have a ridiculous appetite, sometimes eating more than both Ezekiel and Jacob combined. But today, she didn’t think that her stomach would be able to handle any food.  
     Eliot noticed her not eating, and was both confused and worried. He had seen Cassie eat enough food to put Hardison in a food coma, so something must be wrong with her.  “Are you doing okay, Cassie?”  
     “Hmm? Oh, yeah, just thinking.”  
     “What about?”  
     Cassandra gave a small smile and turned to Eliot. “You.”  
     Eliot smiled back at her. “Care to elaborate.” Her smile turned sad, and Eliot noticed immediately. “What’s wrong?”  
     Cassie simply took a sip of water, trying to collect herself long enough to tell Eliot what had happened to her. He seemed to catch onto her mood, and stood up. He grabbed both of their plates and motioned with his head towards the back room.  
     “Come on. Let’s go to the roof. I didn’t really get a chance to show you my garden last time we were up there.”  
     “Okay. That sounds nice.” She let him pull her to her feet. They made a brief stop in the kitchen to wrap their food, then walked through the back. Hardison and Parker were nowhere to be found, probably off on one of their crazy dates. The night was a little chilly, and Cassandra was still cold from staying outside both in New York and at the park across the street.  
     She dreaded the upcoming conversation, knowing that both of them might end up hurt, and she knew that she was going to cry. However, Cassie put off the moment as long as possible, looking at the various plants that Eliot was growing instead.  
     After several minutes, Eliot took her to the edge of the building, overlooking the various streetlights and the stars. “I know that you did not come here to look at my garden. What’s wrong?”  
     Cassandra let out a half-sigh, half-sob and put her arms around the hitter. She cried into his chest for several minutes before she finally worked up the courage to pull away and look at the man who had captured her heart. Quietly, she began to speak.  
     “Yesterday, I was hit with another spell. My head felt like it was going to explode and I passed out from the pain. Thankfully, I was already in my room and no one heard me go down. And today was my monthly exam to make sure that my head was still doing fine.”  
     Eliot felt his blood go cold. He had a good idea of what Cassie was about to say, and it terrified him more than Damien Moreau ever had. But rather speak, he let the redhead continue her tale.  
     “I spent over an hour doing tests, and by the time we were done, the doctors had all gone silent. They said my tumor has come back, and it is far more aggressive than it was the first time. It started growing in the last month since my last appointment and it is already the size of a small marble.” As Cassie gave him that information, she chuckled to herself. At least it wasn’t a food item this time. There were no foods that she would be compelled to avoid.  
     “Did they tell you how long you have left?”  
     “About a year. Anything longer than that will be considered a miracle.”  
     Eliot pulled Cassandra back into a hug, holding her as he processed the information she had given him. It was a huge burden for anyone to carry, and for his Cassie to have to go through it twice, it was a miracle she was standing at all.  
     “I’ll take whatever time I can get. Have you told anyone else? Your coworkers? Your family?”  
     Cassie shook her head. She had spent all of five minutes in the Annex today, and she wasn’t going to go back there today. If needed, she would get a hotel room so she wouldn’t have to face anyone.  
     “Are there any options? Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, anything?”  
     “Eliot, this cancer was thought to be inoperable the first time. With how aggressive it is, I will be lucky if I will be able to function by the end of the year. The doctors said that there was no way the same surgery would work a second time, and to just prepare myself. Surround myself with loved ones. Spend this last year checking off my bucket list.”  
     They continued to stand together, watching the stars, each feeling almost like they were saying goodbye. The silence was oppressive, but neither one wanted to break it.  Eventually, Cassie pulled back from the hug and looked at the hitter. He could see her fear in the way her eyes shifted, not quite looking at him.  
     “Eliot, would you mind coming with me tomorrow to tell everyone. I know it’s a lot to ask,” she said.  
     “Don’t worry. If you want me there, I will be there. I’m with you for as long as I have you, Cassie.”  
     Her shoulders slumped and she gave Eliot a watery smile. He gently cupped her cheek, using his thumb to wipe away her tears. She leaned into his touch, craving the contact like a drowning person craved air.  
     Eliot stared into her blue, blue eyes and he felt drawn to her. It was as if she had her own gravitational pull, and he was sucked into her orbit. The stars shone in her eyes, and her smile was the sun. He was entranced, spellbound by her beauty.  
     Cassandra found comfort and acceptance and love for the first time in her life in the arms of a man who was just as lonely as she was. They fit together perfectly. She looked up into his eyes, and felt herself pulled even closer to him.  
     On the rooftop in Portland, Cassandra and Eliot kissed, their lips gentle and exploring. The kiss didn’t last long, but long enough to let the other know exactly how they felt. Eliot could feel Cassie’s love and patience, her acceptance of who he was and what he had done. Cassie felt the support of a loved one, who would be with her, regardless of what was to come. As a synesthete, Cassandra could feel the warmth of a campfire and the comfort of a rich, homemade hot chocolate. She could see starbursts around both of them.  
     When they pulled away from each other, the two lost souls found a home in the other’s arms, and they stayed that way until the sun was gone, and most of the night had passed as well. Finally, the cold seemed to penetrate, and Cassandra moved from Eliot’s arms.  
     “I should probably go home,” she said reluctantly.  
     However, Eliot could see that she was terrified to be alone at that moment, and decided that she would never be alone again, if he could help it. “You could stay here. I mean, I will be going with you to your work in the morning, and it would be easier if we both stayed here. I can take the couch and you can take the bed in the spare room that Hardison and Parker keep.”  
     “Won’t you be uncomfortable?”  
     “Cassie, I only sleep ninety minutes a day. If I were in the room, me getting up and moving around would wake you up, and we both know you need your sleep. This will be fine, I promise.”  
     “Okay. But if you change your mind, I will always be willing to take the couch.”  
     They went down the stairs, and Eliot helped Cassandra get situated in the spare bedroom. He gave her a pair of his sweats and a shirt so she wouldn’t have to sleep in her clothes. They still smelled like him, and Cassie burrowed into their warmth and comfort. She climbed into the bed, and was almost instantly asleep.  
     Eliot stayed and watched her for a moment, before kissing her lightly on the forehead and leaving the room, being careful to not make any noise that would wake her up.  
     Parker was waiting in the living room for him. “Is she okay? Are you okay?”  
     “Yeah, she’s just very sick. Her cancer came back, and she was exhausted. I’m gonna go over to her work to give her some support when she tells her coworkers.”  
     “Oh, that’s awful. But why can’t she just get it removed like she did last time?”  
     “Cancer doesn’t always work like that. It’s in a place where it would be dangerous to operate a second time and it’s attacking her brain much more quickly than it did last time. The doctor gave her a year left to live.”  
     Parker looked thoughtful. “Did you tell her how you feel?”  
     Eliot’s eyes widened in surprise. Sometimes he forgot how perceptive Parker could be when she wanted to. “How did you know?”  
     “Every time she came in, your face would light up, just a little. And your eyes would get all crinkly. Plus, I’ve never heard you laugh as much as you have with her around. I like her. And you should tell her how you feel. That’s what Sophie told me when I realized I liked Hardison.”  
     “I think she already knows, but I’ll tell her tomorrow, just in case. Thanks Parker.”  
     “How are you doing? I mean, the girl you love just told you that she is going to die soon.”  
     “I’m okay. I’m sad that I won’t be able to spend a lot of time with her before I lose her. But I am glad that I got to meet her before she dies.”  
     Parker skipped over to Eliot, and pulled him into a hug. “Maybe Santa will be willing to heal her this year. If I ask Santa for that for Christmas, he is going to make her better.”  
     Eliot melted into her hug, rather than pushing her away, like he usually did. Right then, he needed the comfort of his family, and surprisingly enough, Parker was the best at comforting besides Sophie. Parker pulled away and skipped off to her room.  
     The hitter watched her go with a smile and then sat down at the computer. He pulled up everything he could find on synesthesia and tumors in the brain. It was better to know everything he could rather than go into any kind of relationship with Cassie ignorant. Eliot knew that it was highly unlikely that he would get any sleep that night, so he spent his time reading up on everything he could.


	7. A New Job

     The next morning, Cassie woke up to her phone alarm going off. She scrambled around blearily and hit snooze. It was way too early for her to be up and about. Within seconds, though, her alarm went off again, but this time she was awake enough to recognize that it was not her alarm, but her ringtone.  
     She hurried and grabbed her phone, sitting up in bed as she hit answer. “Hello?” She quickly checked the time, and saw that it was four in the morning, which meant this was a clippings book call.  
     “Cillian, Baird asked me to call and let you know that we have a case. The clippings book went off,” the gruff and cold voice said over the phone. Cassie recognized it as the voice of Jacob Stone, and she felt her heart squeeze from pain. He was still angry at her.  
      However, she had more important things to worry about than her relationship with her colleague, and she hurried to get dressed. Within minutes, she was out of her room, running her fingers through her red curls in an attempt to tame her bedhead. Eliot was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading a novel. Cassie gave a little smile when she saw him, her mind going back to the magical kiss they had shared the night before.  
     “Morning,” she said.  
     Eliot looked up and gave her a smile. “Hey, I wasn’t sure what time you would be up, so I figured we could maybe make breakfast together before going over to your work.”  
Cassie’s shoulders slumped and she gave a weird face. “Jacob called me this morning and said that we have a case. I have to go to work. We won’t have time to head over to the Annex. My news will just have to wait.”  
     “At least let me drive you over there. I don’t want you to have to call a cab or walk to work this morning.”  
     “No, they are coming to pick me up. I don’t know how long it will be until I am back from this trip, but when I do get back, and if you aren’t busy with a client, I would love to do breakfast with you,” Cassie said.  
     Eliot looked down at the book he had spent the last two hours reading. He was still on the same page that he started on, having not been able to focus on anything besides Cassandra. Parker’s words echoed in his mind, telling him to tell her how he felt now. But, he couldn’t quite get the words out, and Cassandra was on the phone with Jenkins.  
He caught the last part of the call, when Cassie told the older man where she was. She hung up shortly after, having listened to whatever the man had to say. “I’m so sorry, Eliot, but I have to go. I’ll see you soon.” She walked over to him, and leaned down to give him a hug. Then she gave him a light kiss on his lips, lingering for just a second before she pulled away and walked through the door to the restaurant.  
     He thought he saw a blue flash, but it was gone before his mind even registered what had happened.  
     The rest of the day was spent cooking and cleaning up the brewpub, making sure it was ready for the evening rush. Around noon, he spent some time making a lunch for himself, as well as Hardison and Parker, knowing that they would be hungry from whatever they were doing this morning.  
     Pretty soon, Parker bounced into the kitchen and dug out a box of cereal from the back of the cupboard and started eating it by the handful.  
     “Where did you even get that? I thought I told you to keep your nasty cereals out of my kitchen,” Eliot growled gently. It was an old argument, kept up mainly for nostalgia and familiarity. Both he and Parker were just barely used to sticking around in one area for longer than the time it took to plan and pull a heist. They needed something familiar in their relationship, something to ground them both to.  
     At Eliot’s comment, the blonde merely smiled and shoved another handful of the air-filled sugar into her mouth. Once she could breathe without choking or spitting crumbs everywhere, she said, “So, did you tell Cassandra?”  
     “No, she got called in to work early this morning. She left before I had a chance to even make her breakfast. I don’t know how long she’s going to be gone on this trip. But when she gets back, I’ll tell her.”  
     “You better. That girl needs a lot more love in her life. Hardison looked her up online, and her parents were worse than all of my foster families combined. The best thing to ever happen to her was getting recruited by this library.” Parker hopped up onto the counter, still shoving handfuls of cereal into her mouth. “Oh, I almost forgot. Hardison and I ran into a client yesterday after we left you alone with Cassandra. I figured you could talk to her today and find out exactly what she needs us to do.”  
     “What’s her name?”  
     “Catie Wellington. She’s bringing in her brother as well, just to let you know.”  
     “Alright, thanks Parker.” She nodded and hopped off of the counter and went to head back into their headquarters. Eliot, however, thought of something else, before she left.  “What time are they coming in?”  
     She answered, “Oh, I think they already came in.”  
     “Parker, next time, a little more heads up would be nice.”  
     She through back a flippant “okay” and then disappeared through the door. Eliot cursed her and her tendency to not think certain information was important, and through his apron on the counter. He checked on the various items that were cooking, and decided that they would be okay for now, and left them to slowly cook.  
     He went out into the main part of the restaurant, and immediately spotted a petite woman with short brown hair, and her brother who was significantly taller than him. Eliot appraised the man, and noticed the way he stood and carried himself. It was very distinctive to the U.S. Marshall service.  
     He walked over to them, eyes sweeping the room for anyone who might pose a threat to the two siblings.  
     “Hi, you folks must be the Wellingtons.”  
     The man looked at his sister in a way that clearly said that she was in charge and should be the one to explain their situation. He stood back and let Catie start to talk.  
     “Are you Eliot? Parker said to make sure we only talk to Eliot.”  
     “Yes, ma’am, I am Eliot. You must be Catie, but I don’t think I ever caught your brother’s name.”  
     The man took a half a step forward and offered his hand to the hitter. “I’m Luke,” he said in a pleasant tone.  
     “How long have you been in the Marshall service?” Eliot asked.  
     The man looked surprised and definitely impressed. “You’re as good as they say you are, Mr. Spencer. I’ve been serving for close to ten years now. I’ve chased you before, you know, but I told Catie that there was no one else better than you and your crew, particularly since you turned to helping people.”  
     “Well, I’m glad that you’re not here to arrest me. How about we sit down at the bar over here, and you can tell me what’s going on.”  
     Eliot led them over to the bar, his mind briefly flashing to a certain redhead who liked to sit here. Angry with himself, he cleared his mind of all thoughts of Cassandra and focused solely on his clients.  
     “Two years ago, our grandmother made me the heir for her estate. She asked me to use her money and belongings to help people. A month ago, she died and left everything to me. I asked Luke to help me sort through her belongings to get an idea of what I needed to do with it all. We were going through her attic when I found an old box with some strange carvings on it. I opened it and found what looked like a crystal ball.  
     "Granny had left a note with it. She said it had strange properties and that it could be dangerous if it got into the wrong hands. Two days later, I got a call from a man who said he specialized in categorizing the possessions of the deceased and gave me a list of people who had recommended him. I agreed to let him have a look at my granny’s house to see what he could do with all of it. I was feeling a little overwhelmed.  
     "I had forgotten to put the box in a safe place. I wasn’t sure what it did, but Granny never gave us a warning unless she meant it. That box was to never be given away. The man, a Mr. Lawrence Frayser, saw it and took an interest in it immediately. I didn’t know what to do, so I told him I was grateful for his help, but I didn’t think Granny would want other people snooping through her things. I told him to leave.  
     "The next day, Luke was coming with me, and he noticed that the house had been broken into. I looked around, and the only thing that was missing was the box. We called the police, but they didn’t believe us, and they said Lawrence Frayser didn’t exist. There was no company. I called the people who had recommended him and all of the numbers went to either voicemail, or were numbers for overseas companies.  
     "I called the number he gave me, and the person that answered said that he had no record of any Lawrence Frayser, and that we were never a part of their client list. It’s as if this man is a ghost. But he ran off with our money, and tainted the memory of our grandmother.  
     "Eliot, I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure I believe in the supernatural, but my Granny didn’t either, and she said this crystal ball was dangerous. We have to get it back. Can you help us?”  
     Eliot listened to their story. It was similar to many others he had heard over the years of working for the people. But this was the first one that seemed almost to have a magical quality to it. Most people didn’t believe in magic, but Eliot had been around the world enough, and seen enough odd objects and unexplained occurrences to know that there was something magical out in the world.  
     “We will be able to help you. Now, I just need you to tell me everything you know about this man and what his company is, and we will not only get back your box, but we will also keep this from happening to other people. Hopefully, we’ll also be able to get back your money.”  
     Both Luke and Catie nodded in agreement. Eliot motioned for them to follow him, and led them back to their headquarters so that Hardison could get any information he needed from the siblings.  
     Eliot smiled grimly. If this case went well, he would be able to punch somebody, and if ever he needed to feel his fist connect with a bad guy’s jaw, it was then. All that grief and rage and pent up emotions from seeing his baby brother again, and from finding out that the girl he loved was dying, needed some kind of outlet.  
     Yes, this job was a very good thing.


	8. Something Went Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, this is a long chapter. This is also where the plot comes in.

     When Cassandra stumbled through the Back Door, she looked around and saw everyone in a frenzy. Rather than ask what was going on, she went to the clippings book and looked at the article.  
      **“Family goes on killing spree after gazing into the crystal ball.”** The article was dated two days from now, which meant that there was no time to waste. She immediately asked Colonel Baird where she was needed the most, and Baird put her with Ezekiel to find out more information on the family.  
     Cassandra had grown used to the way Ezekiel worked and she expected him to talk her ear off. But his first question surprised her.  
     “So, did you have a good night at the brewpub?” The thief looked at her with a smirk, obviously suggesting more had happened the night before.  
     “I needed a place to stay, and he offered their spare bedroom. Plus, I needed to see him. I had a bad day, yesterday,” Cassandra hurried to explain.  
     “Uh-huh. Did you at least get a kiss?”  
     At this, Cassandra blushed, just a little bit, but enough that the thief noticed. He gave her a smile. “I’m happy for you. You deserve someone who cares for you no matter what.”  
     “Thanks, Ezekiel. You have no idea how badly I needed to hear that.”  
     “Jones, Red!! People’s lives are at stake. I hope that you have the information I need!” Baird shouted at them from across the Annex.  
     Jacob stumbled in through the Library door and dumped a pile of books on the big table where Jenkins was studying something. “These are all of the books on crystal balls that I can find.”  
     The light in Cassie’s eyes went out as she looked at their art historian. Normally, she would have been put on research duty with Jacob and Jenkins, but it seemed that that was no longer the case. All of the euphoria she had felt that morning, thinking about the kiss she had shared with Eliot, evaporated until she was left with a feeling of hopelessness.  
     She was dying, one of her closest friends refused to even acknowledge her presence, and there seemed to be no hope of either changing.  
     Baird finished the pre-mission briefing, deciding that they needed to go on site in order to collect more information about this artifact. It could be a number of different crystal balls throughout history, and without more information, they would not be able to counteract the ball’s powers.  
     Cassandra stepped through the back door and landed in a town not far from Portland. She was surprised. Normally, life-threatening artifacts were all around the world, not in their very own backyard, so to speak. The others were all gathered a few feet away, looking around at the town, as if trying to pry its secrets loose.  
     Unfortunately, for her, Cassie’s synesthesia seemed to take over her mind, and with the magic element she had developed by accident, she could basically see everything in the city. It was overwhelming to the extreme, and Cassandra could barely keep her balance.  
     Normally, the other Librarians would notice when her spells would get to be too much. But ever since her tumor had been removed, they hadn’t had to worry about nosebleeds or seizures or bouts of unconsciousness. This time, Cassie was terrified, because her gift was so much bigger than it ever was, and she didn’t know how her body would react if she got too deeply into the hallucinations.  
     Distantly, she heard Baird and the others moving off to inspect some kind of evidence or strange incident that might relate to their case. Cassandra tried to follow them, but her footing was still uneven. She wobbled and fell to her knees, feeling the sharp stones she had landed on tear through her tights. She noticed the blood on her hands from where she tried to catch herself and got scraped as well as a drop of crimson on the back of her hand. The mathematician touched her nose, and saw that she had a nosebleed.  
It was the first time in over a year that her body had become overwhelmed enough to cause this much of a reaction. Her head was pounding and numbers danced in and out of her vision. Desperately, Cassandra latched onto any memory she could to ground herself.  
     Maybe the Library had something to do with it, or maybe her own form of magic was at work, but she seemed to smell the scent of homemade hot chocolate, Italian, and the smell of horses. Cassie latched onto the memory of the first time she met Eliot, and gradually, she was able to come out of her hallucination. She looked around and realized that the other Librarians were nowhere to be seen.  
     Mentally, Cassie shrugged. She couldn’t expect them to constantly keep an eye on her, in fact she hated it when they seemed to mother her. Cassie looked around the town, ignoring the temptation to solve the equations that floated into her head. She noticed a little café just down the street and headed in that direction, figuring that she should probably get cleaned up.  
     The café owner was a woman with a kind face and gentle eyes. She also looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. As soon as Cassie came in, the woman took in her disheveled appearance and immediately walked over to the redhead.  
     “Oh, you poor thing! Are you alright?”  
     “Yes, I just tripped and fell. I was wondering if you had a bathroom I could get washed up in?” Cassandra asked.  
     “Of course. Right this way. My name is Catie Wellington and if you need anything, you just call.” The woman led her into the backroom of the café and opened up the door to a small bathroom. It was tastefully decorated and had the same homey feeling that the rest of the little shop had. Cassandra loved this place already, and figured that she would be coming back to this café quite frequently in the future.  
     “Thank you, Ms. Wellington. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you help.”  
     “Oh, honey. It’s just Catie. And you let me know if you need anything.”  
     Cassandra smiled at the lady and then turned on the faucet, starting with the palms of her hands. She gently scrubbed the scrapes, getting the gravel out of the skin and making sure that it was as clean as possible. Once her hands were taken care of, she turned her attention to her nosebleed. It had stopped, but there was still blood all over her face. Frankly, she was surprised that Catie even let her into the café.  
     Once every scrape was cleaned as well as she could, Cassandra emerged from the bathroom. Her hostess was busy cooking something up in the kitchen and the woman looked up from the stove to smile at her guest.  
     “I’ve got some soup on the stove if you would like to stay and eat dinner with me. I could use some company.”  
     “I would like that. My name is Cassandra. I’m here in town with some colleagues for some research.”  
     “Well, it is delightful to meet you Cassandra. The soup is nearly ready, and I have a variety of breads that you can choose from. I also have a salad, if you would like that,” Catie said as she turned back to the stove and threw a few spices into the pan and stirred.  
     Cassandra smiled a little bit, thinking of another person who liked to cook for her. “Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe set the table?”  
     “That would be lovely. The bowls and plates are in the cupboard over here, and the utensils are by the dishwasher. I think the cheese bread out in the display would be perfect to go with this roasted tomato soup. What do you think?”  
     “I think it sounds wonderful.” Cassandra moved around the woman to gather the various dishes. She didn’t see any table in the backroom, so she took the dishes out into the front part of the café. It didn’t take long to set the table and get the bread from the display, and soon, she was waiting for Catie to come out with the rest of their dinner.  
     The café looked as though it had been well-loved for several years. In fact, it seemed that Catie Wellington’s whole life was portrayed in the portraits on the walls. Her family was always around her, all of them smiling widely and looking relaxed. Cassandra wandered through the room, looking at a family that loved each other, and obviously loved spending time with each other. It was the kind of atmosphere that usually made Cassandra wish her own family had treated her with love.  
     Catie came out with a pan and a couple of hot pads, the smell of the soup permeating the air around them. She noticed Cassandra looking at all of the photos on the wall, and once she set the soup down, came over to join her.  
     “That’s my brother, Luke. He’s only a couple years older than me. He is my best friend.”  
     “Who’s this woman?”  
     “That’s our Granny. After our parents died, she took us in and raised us. Granny was our favorite person.”  
     Cassandra picked up on the sadness in her new friend’s voice and looked at her curiously. “Was? What happened to her?”  
     “She died about a month ago,” Catie said. Her voice was full of sorrow and she sniffed a little.  
     “I’m so sorry. Can I help you with anything?”  
     “Well, no. I think I’m doing alright. She was 92 years old, after all. And she lived a full life. I just wish conmen wouldn’t see a death as rich feeding grounds.”  
     “What do you mean? Are there conmen around here?” Cassandra asked. _Maybe this will be a case for Eliot._  
     “She picked me to go through all of her things. Luke long ago, told Granny that he didn’t want any inheritance when she passed. I loved her house and all of her little knick-knacks, and so, Granny left the house to me. She had a box that I found in her attic. It had a crystal ball in it. But Granny had a note with it, as well as in her will. She asked us to not get rid of it, to never let it get into the hands of bad men.  
     “Unfortunately, not long after I found the box, a man came and offered to evaluate her things to find out what could be sold and what was worthless. Somehow, he found the box and asked me if he could buy it. I told him no. Then, the next day, I found the house was broken into and the box was missing. And the man disappeared with all of the money I was paying him to look at Granny’s things.”  
     Cassandra listened intently to the story that Catie told her. She recognized that this was the type of job that Eliot, Parker, and Hardison took, but the crystal ball sounded like their missing artifact. The redhead was torn. She wanted to help this lady, but she also knew that protecting the world from the danger of wild magic was more important.  
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I have some friends that might be able to help you get your money back.”  
     “I already have someone coming. I talked with their group today in Portland. They called themselves Leverage, or something like that.”  
     Cassie gave a smile. “Those were actually the friends I was going to recommend. Do you know when they are going to come down?”  
     “I think they are planning on coming tomorrow after they finish gathering information. How do you know them?”  
     “Eliot is the best chef in Portland. I happened to stumble into their restaurant one day, and haven’t looked back since,” Cassie said wistfully. Even though she had seen Eliot that morning, Cassie still missed him and longed to talk to him. They would probably end up working together on this case, and she could not wait.  
     Suddenly, a song blasted through the café, and the redhead scrambled to reach into the pocket of her shorts. She pulled out her phone and saw that Baird was calling her.  
     “I’m so sorry, Catie. I have to take this. I think that my friends are looking for me.”  
     “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”  
     Cassandra walked a little way away, before she finally answered the phone. “Hello?”  
     “Cassandra? Where are you? We could really use your help right now solving a puzzle!” Baird’s voice was loud and Cassandra pulled the phone away from her ear. It sounded like she had been running or fighting, and Cassandra immediately felt guilty.  
     “I’ll be right there. Send me your location.”  
     “Hurry! I’m not sure how much longer I can hold this back!”  
     Cassandra turned to her host and gave her an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry. My friends need me. It was really nice meeting you, and good luck with your grandmother’s things.”  
     “Thank you. I hope to see you again, Cassandra.”  
     With a final smile, the redhead pulled open the door of the café, and checked her phone for her friend’s coordinates. In seconds, she was running down the street, back toward where the door was.   
     When she arrived at the location in the forest not far from the town, it was obvious that there had been some kind of struggle. There were also deep gouge marks in the trees and something dark soaked into the soil. She bent down and saw that the liquid was thick and a rich red color.  
     Cassandra stood up and the world seemed to reel around her. She looked around, hoping to see someone around. The forest was empty, completely silent except for the gasps of breath coming from Cassandra.  
     “Baird, Ezekiel, Stone! Are you guys here?” There was nothing but the creak of the trees to answer her desperate cries. “Eve, are you there? Anyone?”  
     After taking several deep breaths to calm her racing heart, Cassandra looked around the area for any clues. The gouges in the trees and in the dirt seemed to be heading deeper into the forest. Cassandra thought aloud for a moment.  
     “If I follow the tracks, then I might fall into the same trap that my friends fell into. But if I go get Jenkins, we might be too late to rescue them. But I don’t really have any combat training, so how am I supposed to rescue them?”  
     It took her a couple minutes to decide, but she decided that it wouldn’t hurt to get an idea of where the marks went. So, she set out into the forest, trying not to think about how the woods were getting darker around her.  
     Soon, the forest was so dark around her that she couldn’t see any signs that anyone or anything had passed by. She stopped and thought for a second. Cassandra could stay there, and risk having whatever took her friends take her in the night, or she could try to get back to the door. Thankfully, her sense of direction and her synesthesia could work together to take her back the way she came.  
     It wasn’t long before she was stumbling through the Back Door, her eyes adjusting to the sudden light.  
     “Jenkins, I can’t find Baird or Ezekiel or Stone! They’re gone!”  
     One of the first things she noticed was that the entire Annex was silent. Just as silent as the forest had been. Jenkins didn’t respond, which was strange for him. Normally, he would stride in complaining about the amount of noise Cassandra was making. Now, there was nothing.  
     Cassandra began to panic. The other Librarians were gone, as well as their Guardian, and now their Caretaker. What had happened to everyone?  
     The lights were too bright. The smells of the room, too strong. Everything was becoming overwhelming. Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. Repeat. Think. What can she see? The floor, is it spinning? No. The table. The globe. The chair. Okay, stand up.  
     Cassandra was finally able to break the panic and she looked around the room once again. There were several options. First, she could call Flynn, but who knew where he was or if she would be able to reach him. Not to mention the fact that he and Baird were not on speaking terms. Second, work this issue by herself. Probably not a good idea, since whatever had happened had taken two Librarians, a Guardian, and an immortal knight of Camelot. Third, recruit help.  
      _Yes_ , Cassandra thought to herself. _I need some help. Eliot is a specialist in these kinds of situations. He should be able to help, even if he doesn’t know about magic._  
     With a plan of action in mind, Cassandra set the Back Door to take her to the Bridgeport Brewpub, hoping that they were all still there. After all, if anyone needed help, Cassandra did, and Leverage was the best place to go.


	9. Getting Some Help

     Parker was hanging upside down from the ceiling when she saw a bright blue flash out of the corner of her eyes. She quickly adjusted her rig and slid down to the ground just in time to see Cassandra stumble out of their closet.  
     “Where did you come from?” Parker yelled in surprise. Her cry brought Hardison stumbling down the stairs and Eliot poking his head through the door leading to the restaurant.  
     “Cassie? Is everything okay?”  
     “I need your help! My team, they all disappeared. I don’t know what happened or where they are!” Cassandra’s panic was evident in her voice, and immediately Eliot came over to her.  
     “Alright, what do you know?” he asked her gently.  
     “I need to take you all to the Annex if I am going to be able to tell you what’s going on. I need you all to trust me.”  
     The group of thieves looked at each other, having a wordless conversation. For a second, it looked like they weren’t going to go with her, and Cassandra held her breath, hoping. Finally, Eliot took her hand and said, “Lead on.”  
     Cassie turned back to where the closet door was still glowing blue. She glanced once at her friends and then stepped through the Back Door. After the usual stumbling, she quickly turned back to the door and watched as Eliot, Parker, and Hardison came through.  
     “Welcome to the Library. This is where we house magical artifacts that are too dangerous to be left alone in the world. The other Librarians and I are the ones that go around the world collecting them and making sure that bad guys don’t get their hands on magic. And yes, Parker, Santa Claus is real. I’ve met him and I’ve ridden in his sleigh.”  
     Both Parker and Hardison were speechless as they looked around the Annex, taking in the huge shelves full of books and the various knick-knacks that Jenkins had left lying around when he disappeared. Eliot, however, did not look around him, but focused solely on Cassandra.  
     Before any of them could say anything, Cassandra amended her earlier statement. “Technically, you are in the Annex. Let me show you the Library.” She walked over to the doors and pushed them open so they could all pile into the elevator. The levels whooshed past, but Cassandra didn’t notice them.  
     Finally, the doors opened and the three thieves stepped out into the Library and at this, even Eliot was stunned. Cassandra did a quick tour of the artifacts nearby them before finally turning to her friends and getting their attention.  
     “I need you all to understand that this place is top-secret. The more people that know about the Library, the more likely it is that we will be attacked and magic will be used to hurt people. Also, as much as it might tempt you, do not try to steal any of the artifacts in here. They are here for a reason.”  
     “I wouldn’t dream of it. But, I definitely want to explore sometime.” Surprisingly, it was Parker that said that. The other two looked at her in surprise and Parker elaborated. “I know I’m a thief, but even I know that stealing magic is a bad idea. Besides, Cassandra’s our friend and we are here to help her.”  
     “You’re right Parker. Magic is difficult to steal, and downright dangerous if you don’t know how to use it or contain it,” Eliot said to the blonde.  
     “You know about magic?” Cassandra asked.  
     “You spend enough time being paid to recover items, you come across things that don’t make sense unless you believe in magic. In fact, I’ve seen a few of these things.” He looked around before focusing his piercing gaze on Cassandra.  
     “Alright, tell me what you know about this job you’ve been working on and where Jake and the others were when they disappeared.”  
     Cassandra led the others back into the Annex and pulled out the clippings book. “This book helps us find artifacts in the world, usually through newspaper clippings. The one that showed up this morning is dated two days in the future.” She showed them the clipping and the three of them gathered around the book. “As you can see, the article says that the family had been seen with a crystal ball in their possession prior to their killing spree. Our job was to figure out what kind of artifact could cause this in order to prevent the killing spree in two days.  
     “We went to this town, which is not far from Portland. There, I ran into a lady by the name of Catie Wellington. Her grandmother’s crystal ball was stolen and she had asked for help from you guys.  
     “I got a call from Colonel Baird saying that she needed my help. So, I followed the coordinates she sent me, and when I got there, the forest was a mess and no one was there. I’ve tried to call them on their cell phones, but no one has answered. I followed some tracks into the forest before it got too dark to see, and I came back here to get Jenkins to help. But he was gone, too. And Flynn has been on his own for a little while.”  
     Eliot leaned forward and read the article, absorbing information, while Hardison went on his phone as well as borrowed Cassie’s phone. He spent a few minutes typing before he looked up at the redhead.  
     “I tried using the link all of your phones have to try to find them. Their phones don’t register anywhere in the world. Which could mean a number of things. They could be in an area where there is no signal, their phones could be turned off or destroyed, or, and I only say this ‘cause magic does exist, they are in a different reality.”  
     “Well, I guess we have to do things the old-fashioned way. In the morning, we’ll head back to the last place you know they were,” Eliot said, slapping his hands on the table as an emphasis.  
     “Let me show you where you can get some sleep, or I can send you back to the brewpub if you’d like,” Cassandra offered.  
     “I think Parker and I will head back to our apartment. I need to grab some of my equipment if we are going to find your friends and do this job,” Hardison said as he took Parker’s hand.  
     “I’ll stick around with you, Cassie,” Eliot said quietly.  
     She gave him a smile as she leaned into his solid presence. The warmth didn’t last nearly as long as she wanted it to, since she needed to make sure Parker and Hardison got through the door okay. Cassandra walked over to the globe and made sure that none of the mechanisms had shifted and that the door would still lead them into the back of the brewpub. The couple left quickly, after Parker gave the redhead a hug and a few whispered words.  
     Once they were gone, Cassie moved back to Eliot, eager to just spend time with him, even if it was to find her friends. However, the worry for her team took away any feeling of content that she would have felt otherwise.  
     “What did Parker say to you?” the hitter asked, his voice gentle and steady.  
     “She said, ‘We’ll find your friends for you.’ I think she’s sweet.”  
     “Well, she can be, if she likes ya. But she can also be a real menace. The girl loves to bug me in my kitchen.” Eliot gave a smile as he pulled Cassie closer to him and wrapped an arm around her. “Honey, you’re freezing. We need to get you warmed up.”  
     Cassandra rubbed her arms, feeling the little goose pimples that had appeared there. She was rather cold. Though she hadn’t realized it until Eliot pointed it out to her. It was nice to have someone looking out for her and making sure that she was taking care of herself.  
     “I’ve got some blankets stashed around here somewhere. I can also get some tea in the kitchen. I’ll warm up soon enough. Now, let me show you where you can go to get some sleep.” Cassandra took Eliot’s large and calloused hand in her small, soft one and gently pulled him down a hallway he hadn’t noticed before. “The Library takes care of all of our needs. If we need a place to sleep at night, we suddenly find a bedroom that is all ready for a good night’s rest. And, it can adjust the temperature automatically to what you prefer, so you are never cold or hot.”  
     “This place is pretty incredible.” Eliot was watching Cassandra carefully. Her face was paler than usual, and she had bags under her eyes. He also noticed that there was a little bit of rough skin on her palm and she was walking with the slightest of limps. “Cassie, are you okay?”  
     “I’m fine. I’m just worried that Baird and Ezekiel and Stone and Jenkins are all in trouble, and I don’t know what to do to help them. We can’t go out there right now, or we might miss important clues. I just wish I could do something.”  
     “Hey, it’s okay. We’re gonna find your friends and my brother. Everyone is going to be fine. I’ll make sure of it.” Eliot squeezed her hand a little. “However, I was talking about the fact that you were limping and that your hand is a little scraped.”  
     “Oh, that. When we got to the town, my synesthesia overwhelmed me and I fell. My knees and hands got a little scraped, but I’ve had a lot worse than that over the years.”  
     “No one noticed that you fell?”  
     Cassandra blushed a little. “No, they were busy doing their jobs while I was stuck in my own head. That’s how I met Catie Wellington. I went into her café to clean myself up so I didn’t have blood everywhere.”  
     “Are you doing okay now?” Eliot asked. His eyes were warm with concern for her and Cassie felt her heart start to beat a little faster.  
     “I’m fine. I was a little shaken up, since that hasn’t happened to me in a while, but I’m okay.” Cassandra gave Eliot’s hand a squeeze and reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Now come on, the room is this way.”  
     Eliot smiled at her, the warm, gentle one that he reserved only for when he was truly happy. “You do realize that I don’t actually need to sleep. Instead, why don’t we go to the kitchen and I can help you make some tea.”  
     “Are you sure you’re not tired? I don’t think you slept at all last night.”  
     “I’m fine. I just want to make sure you’re taken care of. Now, let’s get you warm and hopefully, you’ll get some kind of sleep tonight.”  
     Cassandra acquiesced and the pair made their way over to the kitchen. It was still well-stocked from the last time the Librarians had gone on a shopping trip all together. It was definitely an experience to remember. She quickly crossed over to where she kept her stash of teas and selected a simple peppermint one. That was the one that she associated with peace and quiet, and she definitely needed some peace.  
     Eliot watched as she moved around her own kitchen and felt his heart, once again squeeze. He definitely was not used to feeling these emotions as often as Cassandra brought them out of him. He was falling in love, for the first time since Aimee, since being in high school. And she had a year to live. The protector in him ached to be able to do something to keep Cassandra dying, but he knew it would take a miracle to extend her life.  
     Looking around, the hitter noticed small touches in the kitchen that took him back to his childhood. The peanut butter was out on the counter and he knew that if he looked in the fridge, he would find the bread right next to the milk. After all, that was how his mother used to arrange things. And Jake had lived at home a lot longer than he had.  
If there were two things he would give his life to fix, they would be Cassandra’s tumor and his relationship with his little brother. The hard part was that he couldn’t fix either. Eliot wanted nothing more than for the people he loved to be safe and looked after, even if it meant he wasn’t in their lives anymore.  
     However, Eliot knew that Jake’s anger was also hurting Cassandra. She worked with him every day, and Jake was known for having trust issues and holding grudges. If anyone needed his brother to forgive and forget, it was Cassandra.  
     “Hey Cassie? Were you able to talk to your teammates and tell them what the doctors said?”  
     The redhead looked up from where she was adding the tea to the boiling water. She shook her head. “Lives were at stake. We were too busy working on finding the artifact and collecting information for me to have a chance to talk to them. I’ve got a year. Those people only had days.”  
     “Well, when we get them back, I’ll be here to help you. Now that I know the secret of the Library, they can’t exactly keep me away from visiting you.”  
     “I know that I wouldn’t mind seeing you in here more often. But your brother might have some issues with that.”  
     “Jacob has always been known for his stubbornness. He’ll come around or not, but I’m not going to let his anger keep me from doing what makes me happy. And Cassie, you make me happy.”  
     Cassandra wasn’t sure what to say in response to that, so she simply walked over to Eliot and kissed him. She poured all of her love and heartache and joy into that kiss. He kissed her back just as eagerly, wrapping his strong arms around her waist and pulling her in closer. She moved her hands into his hair and on his cheek, just feeling him.  
     When they finally broke for air, they didn’t move far from the other. Instead, Eliot just rested his forehead against hers and just soaked in her presence. “Parker gave me some advice last night after you fell asleep. She said that I should tell you exactly how I feel. And I think she’s right. I love you Cassie. I have for a while now.”  
     “I love you, too, Eliot. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.”  
     He brought her in for another kiss, just letting the emotions take over them. He could feel Cassandra trembling a little under the power of his emotions, and he slowed the pace of their kisses. His arms wrapped a little tighter around the lithe redhead, keeping her upright.  
     Cassie pulled away slightly. “Eliot, I want to enjoy every moment with you. But for right now, let’s just sit on a couch and relax. I just want to spend time with you.”  
     Eliot gave her a little smile. “I think that sounds perfect. Let’s grab your tea and a blanket and find ourselves a couch.”  
     Much later, when the Library had dimmed the lights, Eliot looked at the woman that was leaning against him, sound asleep. She had looked so exhausted, that he didn’t dare move in case she woke up. He watched the fireplace that the Library had brought to them, watching as the firelight danced through the red in Cassie’s hair, making it more brilliant.  
     As much as he wanted to spend the rest of the night just watching over the girl he loved, he knew that he needed to work on a plan to bring the other Librarians home safe. They were Cassie’s family, and she needed them around her. This job was going to be difficult. Not only did they need to find a man who was almost like a ghost, but they also needed to retrieve the crystal ball before it caused that family to go on a killing spree. And somehow, they were going to have to convince Catie Wellington to let the Library take care of the crystal ball, since it was dangerous magic. They needed help.  
     When Cassie woke up, he was going to ask her to fire up the Back Door and bring Nate and Sophie in on this case. Eliot knew that the Librarian wouldn’t want to have more people than necessary to know about the secret of magic, but he needed his team around him. They needed Nate to come up with a brilliant plan that didn’t seem like it could possibly work. They needed Sophie to help ground everyone, and make sure their mark was caught. They needed the original Leverage Incorporated to be on this job.  
     Now that Eliot had a plan of action for the coming job, he felt his body relax, and he started to drift off. He looked up at the ceiling and said quietly, “I’m trusting you to watch over us both. Don’t let me down.” His arms tightened slightly around Cassandra, and he slipped into the deepest sleep he had had in years.


	10. Nate and Sophie Join the Party

     Nate and Sophie were just about to go to bed in their apartment in London when a bright blue glow came from their living room. Sophie stood behind Nate, letting him take the lead, before they both relaxed when they recognized Eliot’s voice. The couple walked into the room, and were startled to see Eliot and Cassandra both in the living room, and seemed to have come from the closet door.  
     “What are you two doing here?” Nate asked.  
     “We need your help. Cassandra’s team have all gone missing, and we both are working on the same case.” Eliot’s voice was calm, but he had a look in his eyes that betrayed how urgent this problem really was.  
     “How did you two get here? And couldn’t you have just called? We would have come to help.” Sophie was confused. Normally, on a case that was this important, they would have received a phone call rather than a visit in person.  
     Cassandra spoke up for the first time. “This was faster. I need you to trust me.”  
     Nate was taken aback. Normally, when they worked with clients, he was the one to ask them to trust his crew, not the other way around. But Cassandra was a mystery, and he figured that he should get used to being surprised by the woman. What didn’t surprise him, however, was the fact that Eliot was holding her hand.  
     Sophie had picked up on that clue too, and after agreeing to go with Cassandra and trust her, she brushed past Eliot. “Good for you. She makes you happy, I can tell. Hold on to her,” she whispered into his ear. Eliot gave her a small smile in response. He nodded and then followed as Cassandra led them through the blue, glowing door and disappeared.  
     It was an experience that Sophie would remember forever. She had never traveled all the way across the world in a second before, and while it was mildly uncomfortable, she wanted to do it again. Get some sightseeing in and maybe steal some priceless art while she was at it.  
     Nate stumbled into the Annex after her, and together they looked around the place in awe. “So, this is the Library?” the mastermind asked.  
     “Yes. Everything you said is true. This place houses some of the most famous and dangerous and rare artifacts in the world. We guard them from bad people who want to use them to hurt others. It’s my job as a Librarian.” Cassandra didn’t look at them through her explanation, choosing instead to fiddle with a globe near the door they came through. She glanced up at Eliot briefly. “Will you fill them in? I need to go get Hardison and Parker.”  
     Sophie and Nate watched as she disappeared through the doorway and then turned to the hitter. “So, what’s the deal with this case?” Nate asked.  
     “Parker found us a client yesterday. They were robbed and wanted our help to retrieve the crystal ball that their grandmother had left them. She had asked them to not let the crystal ball fall into the wrong hands, and to just leave it locked up. The man that stole from them is like a ghost. We haven’t been able to find anything on him.  
     “Then, yesterday, Cassie showed up saying that her team had all disappeared and that they needed help. She brought us here, and showed us this book.” Eliot led them over to the clippings book and let Sophie and Nate look over the article.  
     “Wait, that’s dated for tomorrow. This book can tell the future?” Sophie asked.  
     “I don’t know. All I know is that they went to this town to do research. Cassandra got separated and met our client. She realized that the crystal ball was the magical artifact they were after. But then, Baird called asking for help, and when Cassie got there, no one was around. Jenkins was missing from here as well, and she doesn’t have a way to reach Flynn. She asked us to help her find her friends and rescue them before something bad happens.”  
     Cassandra reappeared in the doorway, followed by the hacker and the thief. Their eyes lit up when they saw Nate and Sophie and they quickly ran to hug them. Cassandra watched the reunion off to the side, and smiled at how much they loved and trusted each other. How she longed to have that same feeling back. But as far as she knew, it would never be back. It was her fault that her team was gone, since she had left them to be attacked. And Jake was never going to trust her again.  
     But she had to rescue them, regardless of the consequences. If she was kicked out of the Library, at least she had Eliot, the Leverage crew, and Amy to turn to. If nothing else, she knew she wouldn’t be alone when she died in a year.  
     Rather than interrupt the group of thieves, Cassandra walked over to the clippings book, hoping that the book had provided any clue as to the whereabouts of her friends. Unfortunately, the only thing in the book was the same article from the day before. This time, however, she knew that time was running out to prevent the killing spree.  
The next time she looked up at her friends, they were all gathered around the table, and Hardison was giving a thorough briefing on what was going on. It was a little eerie, seeing them going from excited to see each other, to on the warpath and dangerous. But, she figured this was what they did, and she was grateful for their help.  
     “Now, we need to know everything we can about this Lawrence Frayser. Hardison, what do you have?” Nate was saying.  
     “No, Nate. I told you, man. This guy is a ghost. He isn’t on the internet. He isn’t anywhere. It’s like this guy doesn’t even exist. Whoever he is, he’s good.”  
     Cassandra felt her heart drop into her stomach. “Wait, did you say Lawrence Frayser?”  
     Eliot picked up on her anxiety and looked at her. “What’s wrong?”  
     “Lawrence Frayser was a close friend of my parents. He was well known astrophysicist, but went off the rails when his research was discredited. He disappeared a few years ago, and no one knows where he went or what he’s doing. If I remember correctly, he became interested in implementing magic in scientific experiments. He was particularly interested in ancient Greek artifacts.”  
     “So, how do we nail this guy?” Parker asked.  
     Hardison typed on his computer for a minute before he spoke up. “There’s some kind of benefit going on tonight in the local museum. There’s a man who is giving a speech tonight on the importance of Greek history and he seems to be setting up a new exhibit. Apparently, he also the dean Ancient History at the local college.”  
     He pulled up the flyer for the event. There was a picture of the speaker, and Cassandra knew that face from anywhere. It was someone she hadn’t seen in years, but her parents had had him over at least once a week. This was the man who was instrumental in her parents’ decision to involve her in more STEM fairs and competitions. He was the reason behind her parents’ dreams and subsequent abandonment.  
     “That’s him. That’s Lawrence Frayser.” Cassandra’s voice was quiet as she saw that man.  
     “Alright. We need invitations to that event. Hardison, get us invitations. Sophie can probably go as one of her art aliases and Parker I need you to go to his office and see what you can dig up on him. Hardison, I want you digging into this guy with the alias he is using.” Nate assigned the various jobs to his crew, taking command as if he had never retired.  
     “No.” The quiet word startled Nate and he turned to the redhead that had spoken.  
     “No? What do you mean, no?”  
     “I mean, I need to be the one that goes to that event. I’m the one that has spent the last four years with Jacob Stone, the world’s leading art historian. If anyone was going to convince the people that are going to be attending this party, it’s going to be me.” Cassandra’s eyes were hard, as though she was preparing for the inevitable fight.  
     “Sophie is the best. We need a grifter, and you are not a grifter. You are a Librarian and someone that our mark knows.”  
     “Nate, send me in with Sophie, with Eliot, I don’t care. But I am going to that event, and you are not going to stop me. Now, you can use that to your advantage or not, but I need to be there. After all, it’s my team lives that are on the line.” Cassandra raised her chin in defiance and squared off her stance. Eliot knew that she wasn’t about to back down.  
     “Send me in with her. I’ll make sure that we get everything we need,” the hitter said. Cassie sent him a grateful look before turning her gaze back to the mastermind.  
     “Alright, fine. Eliot, you and Cassandra are going to be there at the museum. Sophie, I guess you’re with me. Let’s go steal the Librarians.”

 


	11. Where are We?

     Baird woke up slowly, her eyes squeezed shut at the pain in her head and her ribs. Whatever she did to herself, it was definitely agony. One by one, her various senses took over. She could feel a cold floor underneath her and something cold and heavy on her ankle. She could hear others breathing quietly, and she could smell something sweet.  
     She opened her eyes and was greeted with the sight of some kind of dungeon. She let out a groan and pushed herself up, taking care to not aggravate her headache, nor her ribs.  
     “Oh, good. You’re awake,” a familiar voice said to her. Baird looked around and saw Ezekiel, Jacob, and Jenkins all sitting on the floor in a circular dungeon. There were no doors, nor windows that Baird could use to escape or even figure out where they were.  
     Finally, her gaze settled on the person who spoke. To her surprise, it was Cassandra, standing in the middle of the room, seemingly free to move around. Except she looked a little different. Her hair was a little redder than Baird remembered, and she was dressed like the pictures of the ancient Greeks.  
     “Cassandra? Guys, are you all okay?” Baird called out, hoping that no one was injured badly.  
     “Oh, they are all unharmed. Though I made sure that they wouldn’t be able to talk. They were all so annoying.” Cassandra walked around the room, stopping briefly in front of Jacob. She mimicked, “’Cassandra would never do this to us. Cassandra would be here to save us.’ Well, unfortunately for you, I would do this to you. Jacob Stone. The man who has so little faith in the world. So little faith and affection for the pretty little redhead that stole his brother’s heart.”  
     While Cassandra was moving around, Baird studied her, looking for some kind of artifact that could be affecting and controlling her Librarian. Nothing seemed to stand out to the Guardian.  
     “I actually didn’t want to take all of you, but Guardians and Librarians get so angry when I try to take one of them. I really only wanted Jacob Stone, to make him pay for what he did to your Cassandra.”  
     “Wait, what are you talking about? Our Cassandra?”  
     “I am the Kassandra of Ancient Greece. The one that was cursed to see the future, but no one believed her.” Kassandra gave a sharp laugh. “They all thought that I was a traitor, a witch, someone who would betray them in a second. They were scared of me.  
     “The king trapped my soul in this ball, this prison. And I have lost touch with the world, until a young girl found me in a strange box. She recognized who I was and befriended me. But there were so many people who hurt her and wouldn’t believe in her. I vowed that no other girl would feel the pain I felt. So, I killed them. And she grew up happy.  
     “She kept me for so many years, making sure that I had light and air when I wanted it. She told me stories of the outside world, read to me from her history books. And she passed me down to her daughter. But Granny Wellington didn’t like me and locked me up in a special box so no one could ever find me.  
     “A man freed me, and what do I find. A girl that was cursed by the gods, just like I was, and seemed to be me, born again. And she has a family that hates her, and one of her best friends believes that she would purposely put them in danger. This girl even had my name. I just had to save her from his fear and hatred of her. But you all got in the way. And now, I will have your company until you die.”  
     Baird listened to Kassandra’s tirade, and she felt her heart speed up. They were going to die, and their only hope was Cassandra. “What do you want with the rest of us?”  
     “Well, let’s just say that I’m doing a favor. So, you get to keep me company. And I get to tell you all about your dear friend Cassandra.”  
     “Did you hurt her?”  
     “Oh, no. I would never hurt her. She’s me. And I’m her. We are the same, and I always protect the girls that are the same as me.”  
     “What did you mean when you said she was cursed?” Baird needed to keep Kassandra talking and focused on her, so she wouldn’t harm her Librarians.  
     “Oh, that. I’m sure you would have found out if you had only listened to her today. Or even paid any attention to her at all. But, now it’s too late, and you will never see her again.”  
     At this, Ezekiel stood up and lunged at the woman who looked so much like their own Cassandra. But the chain around his ankle kept him from being able to touch the woman.  His gaze was murderous and rather than fight the chain, he stood there, watching her. The threat that was evident in his stance made Baird proud, but made the seer laugh at the thief.  
     “Oh, honey, you can’t hurt me, no matter how much you might want to. After all, I have the face of your best friend, and you would never hurt her. Now, this has been fun, but I think I should leave you all to entertain each other. After all, I have a family to drive to insanity.”  
     She waved her hand and then disappeared. Ezekiel growled at where the woman had vanished, then turned the glare onto his ankle chain. “I will make her pay for this. No one threatens Cassandra and gets away with it.”  
     He paced as far as the chain would allow him to, almost as if he was a caged predator, trying to reach his prey. Baird watched him for a moment, before she decided to try to stand up and stretch her limbs. Who knew how long she had been unconscious.  
     Her legs shook as she put her weight on them, and she leaned up against the wall to steady herself. Every time she took a breath, it felt like her lungs were on fire and her chest was about to explode. At least one rib was definitely broken.  
     All at once, the weight on her ankle disappeared, and upon looking down, she noticed that the chain had fallen off. Ezekiel realized that his was gone at the same time as Baird, and he immediately lunged at Stone.  
     “Jones! What are you doing?” Baird yelled at him.  
     Ezekiel started to punch Stone. “It’s your fault. Cassandra’s out there, alone, trying to deal with a murderous fortune teller. And all because you couldn’t accept an apology and you couldn’t let go of a twenty-year grudge.”  
     Colonel Baird and Jenkins both ran and grabbed the thief’s arms, holding him back from the historian. “Jones! Fighting each other won’t help Cassandra. We need to work together to get out of here, and like it or not, we need Stone.”  
     Ezekiel ripped his arms from their grip and marched over to the other side of the cell. He leaned against the wall and continued to glare at Stone. Baird ignored Ezekiel and turned to Jacob, turning his face from one side to the other, checking the damage the thief had inflicted. He had some bruising, but otherwise seemed to be fine. That is, until Baird noticed the odd angle his leg was pointed.  
     “We’re going to need to splint that leg,” Baird said, looking around for something they could use.  
     “Baird, don’t bother. There’s nothing here. And Jones is right. This is all my fault. And while the ancient Greek Kassandra said she wouldn’t hurt our Cassandra, she might have a different idea of what unharmed means. She’s alone out there, and I don’t think we can get out of here.”  
     Baird got up and stalked around the cell, banging on the walls every few feet, trying to see if there was a different sound to the walls. But they all seemed to be solid. “At least Cassandra could find Flynn and get him to help. She won’t be totally alone.”  
     As she said this, a bright light filled the room, and Colonel Baird thought that maybe Kassandra was back. At least, until the light faded and she saw a man crumpled up on the floor, blood covering his clothes. The figure groaned and sat up, rubbing his head and wiping blood off of his forehead.  
     “Flynn! What happened?” Baird ran over to the senior Librarian, helping him over to a wall so he could lean up against it.  
     “Some crazy lady saved me from some zombies, but put me in here. Oh, Eve. It’s nice to see you. Where are we?”  
     “I’m not entirely sure, but I think that we are inside Kassandra the Seer’s crystal ball. I know, it’s a little strange, even for us.”  
     “Huh, Kassandra hasn’t been active in decades. The Librarian at the time tried to track it down, but he lost it near New Orleans, which might account for all the voodoo and fortune tellers in that city.”  
     “I think it’s actually near Portland. We were sent by the clippings book to figure out what would cause an entire family to go on a killing spree.”  
     “Ah, that would explain why you are all here.” Flynn’s head swiveled as he looked at the other Librarians. “One, two, hi Jenkins. Wait, I’m pretty sure that when I left, there were three other Librarians. Where’s our Cassandra?”  
     “Bad Kassandra didn’t take her. She wanted her to be out there in the world.”  
     “So, you mean that Cassandra is out there at the mercy of Kassandra?” Flynn asked. Baird just nodded in response. “Well, this is very bad. Kassandra was well known for being rather violent, particularly when other people don’t believe in her, or like her.”  
     “Yeah, we figured that part out,” Ezekiel said. He didn’t look at the senior Librarian, keeping his gaze focused on Jacob Stone instead.  
     Flynn noticed this. “Is there a reason why Ezekiel looks like he wants to kill Jacob?”  
     Eve was about to respond when Jacob spoke up. “It’s my fault that Cassandra’s alone out there. I was mad at her and I refused to even acknowledge her. Evil Kassandra picked up on that, and took me. But then, she figured that the others would try to rescue me, and so she took them as well, and I guess you, too.”  
     “Yeah, you haven’t laid off her case once since you found out that she was friends with Eliot Spencer. Did you know that when she was trapped in the mirror realm, she could hear everything we said? She heard you talking about how she probably left us and that she couldn’t handle the danger. She heard you talking about how she couldn’t be trusted and that we shouldn’t try to get her back. You think that you were the only one who was hurt that night at the brewpub? Imagine how Cassandra feels. She considered you her family, and you turned around and threw that in her face, just like her parents did when she was a kid.  
     “I’m not entirely sure how Eliot felt when you blew up at him. But I know that if my mum or my sisters ever said something like that to me, I would have felt horrible, regardless of what I did. And what I can tell from Spencer, he would feel like he deserved your hatred and would add to his own guilt.”  
     “Boys! Jones, leave Stone alone. We’ve got enough on our plate without playing the blame game. Now, I need everyone to think and try to get us out of here,” Baird said, glaring at the two of them.  
     “I don’t think we can get out of this. If we are inside the crystal ball, then the rules of prophecy apply. We cannot escape unless someone from the outside interferes, or if we find another prophecy to overshadow the current one,” Flynn said distractedly. He dabbed at his forehead again, wiping away the blood that continued to ooze from his injury.  
     “Then we have to rely on Cassandra to find us and get us out, all without angering Kassandra,” said Baird.  
     “Now all we have to do is wait,” Jenkins said, as he used his jacket to try to splint Jacob’s leg.


	12. This is Bad

     Cassandra and Eliot walked down the street towards the museum where the event was taking place that night. Eliot had a hard time keeping his mind on the con they were about to pull off, looking at his date instead. She looked stunning in the deep blue dress that Sophie had gone to Paris to buy for the occasion. It matched Cassie’s eyes perfectly and enhanced her curves. Eliot made a note to make Sophie her favorite meals for as long as they were in Portland as a thank you.  
     They got to the museum, and right before they went inside, Cassie put her hand on Eliot’s arm. “Eliot, there is a good chance that Dr. Frayser will recognize me, so if that happens, just go along with it. Be Dr. Oliver Thompson.”  
     Eliot nodded, and then escorted Cassie through the door, making sure that she was okay and that her synesthesia wouldn’t overwhelm her in the new location. Large, fancy parties like this were full of new sights and sounds that could drive anyone insane. And Cassie had to deal with additional colors and sounds and smells than everyone else.  
     She paused on the threshold of the main exhibit. She could already see Dr. Frayser near the front of the room, sipping champagne and talking to various guests. She hadn’t seen this man since she had moved out when she was twenty years old, and she wasn’t looking forward to any sort of reunion with the man. But he wasn’t who she was most worried about. Currently talking to Dr. Frayser was a woman with copper hair and a man who was tall and sharp and harsh-looking.  
     “Are you okay?” Eliot asked her softly.  
     She nodded and then took a step into the room, immediately turning into the society girl that her parents had raised her as. She moved around the room, meeting people and holding conversations about the exhibit, new scientific discoveries, and various art that was on display. Eliot watched in awe as the woman he loved became a completely different person under his eyes. It was incredible.  
     What he didn’t expect, however, was the woman who stopped in front of them, followed by a man that immediately put Eliot’s guard up.  
     “Cassandra, dear. I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight.”  
     “Hello, Mother. Father. I hope you are both in good health,” Cassandra said politely.  
     “Where are your manners? Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?” her father said stiffly, as though the last thing he wanted was to meet any friend of his daughter’s.  
     “My apologies. Mother, Father, this is Dr. Oliver Thompson. Oliver, these are my parents, Dr. Madeline Cillian, and Dr. Joseph Cillian.”  
     Eliot was a little shell-shocked and automatically held out his hand to shake the hands of her parents. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”  
     “Likewise,” said Mrs. Cillian. She then promptly ignored him and turned her attention to her daughter. “Cassandra, I’m surprised you’re well enough to even come to this kind of event. I would have thought your tumor would have killed when you moved out on your own.”  
     Eliot heard a gasp over the comms, and guessed that Sophie had heard the callused way that the mother talked to their friend. He clenched his hands into a fist, letting that movement be the only sign of his anger towards these people that had made Cassandra feel like she was a failure.  
     “I’ve been doing fine on my own Mother. I even have control over my hallucinations.”  
     “I’m sure you do. I hope you told Dr. Thompson about your tumor. After all, no one wants to get into a relationship with someone who is going to die soon.”  
     Eliot distantly heard his team yelling abuse at Cassandra’s mother in his ear, but he tuned them out. Instead, he put his arm around the mathematician, pulling her close to him. He could feel how tense she was, and he rubbed circles on her back with his thumb, trying to soothe her.  
     “Actually, I do know about her tumor. I know that a year ago, she had it removed and was able to live her life cancer-free. I also know that two days ago, she was told that her tumor had grown back and is more aggressive than ever. So, I believe I know more about her than you do. And I promised her that she would have me for the rest of her life. I love her and I will treasure every second I have with her.”  
     Cassandra’s parents were in shock at what he had said. Her mother in particular was gaping at the two of them. Rather than spend more time with the people who had spent their whole lives putting their daughter down, he turned both of them away. “It was a pleasure Dr Cillian. Dr. Cillian.”  
     Once they were far enough away from her parents, Eliot found a little nook and helped Cassandra sit down. “Are you okay?”  
     “Yeah, I’m fine. I just got so used to not being around them all the time, I had forgotten what it was like to interact with them. That was relatively easy compared to what they were like at home. They have to be polite and appear like we are all a perfect family.”  
     “Oh, darling. I will be your mother from now on,” Sophie said through the ear piece. “We will be your family, and we will make sure you never have to see them ever again.”  
     “Thank you, Sophie,” Cassie said, biting back a whimper. It was harder than she had imagined, seeing her parents again after so many years. There was a reason that she had moved out a long time ago, and had cut off communication with them.  
     “I think we have our next client. We can take down your parents!” Parker exclaimed, wanting to help her friend in her own way.  
     “Parker, she might not want us to do that. Most people don’t want their parents to be taken down,” Hardison said. “But seriously though, if you want us to, we totally will.”  
     “Thanks. But I think I will be fine with not seeing them again. But, if you guys want to, I won’t protest.”  
     “How about we just sit here for a few more minutes, before we head over to Frayser. If you want, we can send you back to the Annex and I can handle dealing with Dr. Frayser and collecting information.” Eliot sat next to Cassandra and took her hand, offering what comfort he could.  
     “I think I need a few more minutes, and then I should be fine. Dr. Frayser is a lot less caustic than my parents. He probably won’t make you want to punch something."  Cassandra snuggled into Eliot’s side and laid her head on his shoulder. She squeezed his hand and gave him a little smile.  
     “Cassandra, do we need to pull the plug on this job?” Nate asked.  
     “Nate, I think we’ve got things handled here. We’ll let you know if things get too much.” Eliot turned and looked into Cassie’s eyes. “You need to let me know if it gets to be too much. You don’t need to push through if you are struggling.”  
     Cassandra nodded in confirmation and settled against his arm. “Thank you for saying all those things to my parents. You are a wonderful man, Eliot.”  
     Eliot gave her a kiss on the forehead, and the two of them simply relaxed for a few more minutes. Cassandra could feel the tension drain from her body and she could tell that Eliot no longer wanted to punch somebody. It was time for them to complete their part of the job.  
     Cassandra stood up from the little couch, and motioned for Eliot to come along. “Let’s go get him.”  
     They worked their way through the crowd, occasionally stopping to talk to various guests, until they found themselves near the podium where Dr. Lawrence Frayser would be giving his speech. It was almost time for said speech and the couple found a spot where they could watch him and the rest of the crowd easily.  
     “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to welcome you to this new exhibit of Greek history. I have spent a lot of my life searching for various artifacts that have historical significance. And tonight, I am going to unveil a piece that I have spent all of my adult life looking for.  
     “Before I get to that part, I would like to thank my sponsors, Dr. Madeline Cillian and Dr. Joseph Cillian. They have been friends of mine for a long time, and have helped fund my excursions. Please, give them a round of applause.”  
     Cassandra looked over to where her parents were standing, right next to the guest of honor. Behind them was a glass case with a velvet curtain drawn around it. She leaned close to Eliot and whispered, “That must be this artifact that he’s been talking about. It must be the Wellington’s crystal ball.”  
     “Eliot, once they unveil the artifact, can you get close to it. I slipped a button cam into your suit coat, so you can send the image to Hardison,” Parker instructed over the comms.  
     He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out what looked like a button, and secured it to his jacket. He spent a few minutes quietly talking to Hardison in order to make sure that the angle and quality was good. Then, Eliot took Cassie by the hand and guided her through the crowd towards the case. They stopped close enough to keep an eye on the exhibit, but far enough away that they wouldn’t be dragged into any conversation with Cassandra’s parents.  
     “Okay, make sure you stay right there until they unveil the case. Then, when it’s clear, I want you to move up and circle it, find out what security is in place.” Parker used the voice that told her friends that she was planning a heist and was collecting information for that heist.  
     “Make sure, when you steal it, that you do not let your skin come in contact with it. Use a scarf, a blanket, a jacket, anything, but do not let it touch you. Also, do not look inside the crystal. Who knows what it can show you,” Cassandra instructed Parker quietly.  
     “Got it. Don’t look at it, and don’t touch it.” She hesitated for a moment. “Do you know what will happen if I do?”  
     “Not exactly, but with things like crystal balls, it’s better to be safe than sorry. There is going to be a whole family that goes on a killing spree tomorrow from this crystal ball.”  
     “Fair enough. I’ll be careful.”  
     Cassandra and Eliot turned their attention back to Dr. Frayser, just in time to hear where he had “found” the crystal ball. “After many years of searching, I have finally found the very first crystal ball, owned by Kassandra the Seer, herself. Madeline, Joseph, if you will?”  
     They pulled the velvet veil back and revealed a gorgeous, perfect sphere that was almost entirely clear. It grabbed Cassandra’s attention, and she felt her body sway forward in an effort to get closer to the ball. She caught herself, and turned her attention back to their target.  
     He was making his way towards them, and mentally she steeled herself to encounter the man from her past.  
     “Cassandra, my dear. It is so wonderful to see you again. Your parents told me that you were here. How have you been?” he asked, his voice smooth from years of manipulating people into doing what he wants  
     “Dr. Frayser, a pleasure as always. I would like you to meet Dr. Oliver Thompson. He is the world’s leading art expert.”  
     “Dr. Thompson. I’ve read some of your papers. The one on cultural differences between the Mayans and the Aztecs was absolutely brilliant.”  
     Eliot looked taken aback for a split second. She doubted anyone at the party would have noticed, but it was obvious that he hadn’t really known all that much about his brother’s alias.  
     “I love the ancient civilizations. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Mayan, they all fascinate me. Now, tell me, how do you know that that crystal ball belonged to Kassandra the Seer?” Eliot asked, as though he were a true scholar.  
     Cassandra was impressed at how smoothly he seemed to adopt the role of art expert, despite the fact that he didn’t know all that much about what Jacob Stone did. And at how easily he was able to switch the conversation over to their target.  
     “Ah, well, I used carbon dating to determine how old the artifact was. Prior to that, I had spent most of my life researching Kassandra, until I had narrowed down an age when she would have been alive. I believe that this crystal ball was the one that Kassandra used when she was alive.”  
     Cassandra spoke up, “How can you be sure? I mean, it would be fairly easy to disprove your hypothesis.”  
     Dr. Frayser gave her an almost predatory grin. “Cassandra, my dear, didn’t your parents teach you about where you got your name? We worked together on this project, long before you were even thought about. We know exactly who this belongs to.”  
     “But, using scientific methods, you won’t be able to prove that this crystal belonged to Kassandra.”  
     “My dear. There are other forces besides science and math. Have you ever heard of magic?” Dr. Frayser said. He took Cassandra’s hand and patted it.  
     The redhead tried to pull her hand away, but his grip was far to strong. His fingers were leaving small bruises on her wrist, discoloring the skin there. “There is no such thing as magic. The world is made entirely of science and math. That’s what my parents taught me, and I have not seen anything to prove otherwise. Magic does not exist.”  
     Eliot stepped in and gripped Frayser’s forearm, pressing on a specific nerve group to prompt the man to let go of Cassandra. “Sir, let go of her. You are leaving bruises on her arm.”  
     “Well, she is my fiancé. A man can do what he wants with his fiancé.” The man gave an evil grin, pulling his arm away from the hitter. “While she might be friends with you, nothing will ever come of it. Her parents promised that if she lived to be 25 years old, I would be the one to marry her. And she turned 25 three years ago.”  
     Cassandra shrank away from the man, curling into Eliot’s protective stance. “They had no right to promise me to you. It’s my life.”  
     Dr. Frayser simply gave his smile and then turned to walk over to the exhibit. “You obviously care a little bit, since you came here to my big presentation. I will see you later tonight, my dear. I will tell your parents to start planning a wedding.”  
     He walked away and Cassandra immediately turned into Eliot’s chest, muffling a sob. Eliot abandoned his plan to pursue Frayser and teach him a lesson, hitter style, in order to comfort the woman that he loved. He made quiet, comforting noises, gently rocking her back and forth.  
     “How about we get out of here? Head back to the Annex so we can figure out what we should do,” Eliot suggested. To his surprise, Cassandra shook her head.  
     “We need to case the crystal ball. People’s lives depend on it. That’s more important.”  
     Eliot was continually being surprised and awed by the redhead, and he could feel his heart swell with pride for her. “How about you go get some water or something else to drink. I will go over there and make sure that Parker gets everything she needs, and then we can leave. Does that sound good?”  
     Cassie nodded, and moved away from Eliot, wiping the tears from her cheeks. She walked towards the open bar at the back of the room, taking care to not attract any attention to herself. She figured that if Eliot ended up getting in a fight with her parents, at least one of them would be able to slip out and help the other escape.  
     While initially wanting to beat up all three stuck-up and pretentious doctors, Eliot figured it would be better for the sake of the job to simply admire the crystal ball, and exchange minimal words with Cassandra’s parents and their mark. There was a large crowd gathered around to look at the ball, and Eliot had to weave through them to reach the case.  
     “Parker, how close do I need to get? Can I just circle it from here?”  
     “It’s hard to tell what the security measures are through that many people. I know you don’t want to get to close to the doctors, but if we are going to steal this, I need you to get closer.”  
     Eliot let out a little growl, but pushed his way through the crowd regardless. He knew that the doctors, as Parker had called them, were watching him very closely, probably eager to talk to him without Cassandra around. When he reached the glass case, Madeline Cillian immediately walked up to him. He gave vent to a sigh, knowing that whatever was coming was unavoidable.  
     “I need you to back away from my daughter. She already has a fiancé, and I don’t think your continued association with her will be good for either of you,” Dr. Cillian said in a no-nonsense voice.  
     “I don’t think that that is really up to you. Your daughter is twenty-eight years old, and is legally an adult. She can make her own decisions. If she doesn’t want me around and would rather marry a man twice her age, then I will back off. But I will be around until she tells me to leave.” Eliot crossed his arms and leveled off a stare at the older woman. He was not going to let this witch of a woman intimidate him away from Cassandra.  
     “You should learn to respect us, boy. You have no idea who you are messing with. Both my wife and I are very prominent in the academic world. If you want to continue publishing articles, then I suggest that you do as we say and leave our daughter alone,” Joseph Cillian put in. Dr. Frayser stood behind the glass case and gave Eliot a smug look. The man must think that they had threatened Eliot sufficiently.  
     However, Eliot was not really Dr. Oliver Thompson, and neither was his brother. So, he had no qualms with speaking his mind. “You treat your daughter as if she were an object to buy and sell. I didn’t see you around when she was told her cancer was back. I didn’t see you around, holding her and letting her cry on your shoulder when she got in a fight with one of her friends. And I certainly didn’t see you when she told me that she loved me.  
     “So, unless you never contact Cassandra again, I will make you wish that you had never met me. An engagement is only binding if both people agree to the marriage. And I know that she did not.”  
     Madeline Cillian’s face was red from anger at the impudent man in front of her. “How dare you! Who do you think you are, threatening us like that?”  
     “Well, I’m the man that can make or break your career. I can make sure that no one will ever trust you again and that your scientific essays will only be used as paper airplanes.  
     “I am the man that can make your worst nightmares come true,” Eliot was practically growling now, a sure sign that he was about to lose his cool.  
     “Eliot, we got everything we need. You can get out of there.” Hardison’s voice cut through the anger that had filled his mind.  
     Eliot gave a predatory smile that conveyed just how dangerous he really was. For the first time in years, he let the curtain drop and let the devil in him shine through his eyes.  “Don’t come near Cassandra again. I will know, and I will make sure you pay for every tear you’ve caused her.”  
     He wheeled away and stalked through the crowd over to where Cassandra was waiting with a glass of champagne. Just seeing her was enough to let him relax.  
     “Thank you for saying all those things. I’m not sure when they could have possibly set up that engagement with Frayser, but I certainly did not agree to it.”  
     Eliot pulled her into a hug, embracing her warmth and kindness, letting the devil sink back below the surface. “It was not a problem. They are some of the worst kind of people in the world. And I know because I used to be considered one of the most dangerous and I worked with people on the world’s most wanted lists.”  
     “I love you, and nothing you’ve done or said can change that.” Cassandra leaned up a little and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Come on, let’s get back to the Annex so we can plan our next move.”


	13. Kassandra with a K

     Kassandra had watched the encounter at the party with interest. Cassandra seemed to have already replaced the team of Librarians and she claimed to love this one. An even more intriguing aspect of the conflict was that the man Cassandra was with looked almost identical to Jacob Stone, only with longer hair and eyes that have seen way too much evil.  
     The seer worked her way through the party, letting people admire her figure in the form-fitting green dress, that was far more revealing than Cassandra, her look-alike would ever wear. After years of being ridiculed and then trapped in a crystal ball, Kassandra was lapping up the attention. Her fun ended, however, when she was approached by Dr. Frayser.  
     “Come with me, please. We have things we need to discuss.”  
     Reluctantly, the lithe redhead swept her way through the hall into a separate exhibit, devoid of any guests. There, she saw the associates of Dr. Frayser, the Cillians. She hated those two for all the horrible things that had been said to her counterpart, but knew that if she voiced any dislike to any of them, they would trap her back in her prison.  
     “Mr. and Mrs. Cillian. It is a pleasure as always.”  
     They scowled at her, but refused to rise to the bait. Doctors were a stuck-up bunch. They always insisted that others called them by their “title” and it annoyed Kassandra to no end. So, she ignored them when they tried to correct her until they had simply given up.  
     “Those pesky Librarians are all still locked up, I hope,” Mrs. Cillian said.  
     “Yep. Still trapped with no way to escape.”  
     Dr. Frayser came closer to the seer, crowding into her personal space. “Our deal, when I let you out of that crystal ball, was that you would isolate Cassandra. We have held our end of the bargain. But Cassandra has gone out and found someone else to replace her team. Someone who claims to love her.”  
     “You need to get rid of him, and anyone else that is helping her. We need her to come back to us. It’s the only way the plan will work,” the witch of a mother said.  
     “Cowboy will disappear along with all of her other friends. I will keep my end of the bargain. Just make sure that no one goes near my crystal. It still houses my soul, after all.” Kassandra disappeared in a bright light, leaving the three doctors to blink the spots from their eyes.  
     Madeline looked at her husband and their colleague. “I don’t think I will ever get used to how much she looks like our Cassandra. The only difference seems to be the hair color.” She shuddered, but then immediately regained her aura of calm. “Once that boy is out of the way, we should be able to finish the preparations. We just need Cassandra to trust us.”  
     “That might be difficult, my dear. She always was uncomfortable around you, Lawrence,” Cassandra’s father said quietly.  
     “We still need her if this is going to work,” Lawrence said.  
     Madeline responded, “Well, we’ll just have to rely on that seer to do our dirty work for us.”


	14. Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry these last few chapters have been so short. But they have a purpose, I swear.

     Parker sauntered through the back door, a black sack over her shoulder. “I got it. Now what do we do?”  
     Cassandra took the bag from the thief and set it on the table. “I need to figure out how this thing caused my friends to disappear. But with it in the Library, now, it won’t cause that family to turn into killers. They’ll be safe.” She paused before looking up at the rest of the Leverage crew. “My job is done, but you guys can use the Annex while you take down Lawrence Frayser if you’d like.”  
     “Thanks, Cassandra. I think it will make it a little bit easier for all of us,” said Hardison.  
     “No problem. And after I get my team back, maybe you could help Ezekiel secure this place even better. After all, we’ve had way too many break-ins in the last few years.”  
     Hardison just grinned, his face giving Cassandra all the answer that she needed. She loved the Leverage crew with all of her heart, and hoped that they would become regular guests at the Annex.  
     Sophie and Nate were ready to go to bed, since they hadn’t slept in nearly 36 hours. However, they refused the beds that Cassandra offered them in the Library, preferring to either sleep at the brewpub or go back to their apartment in London. As Cassandra was setting the Back Door to go to the brewpub, there was a flash of white light and a loud crash from the table. She whirled to see the crystal ball on the ground, outside of the bag and a figure on the ground next to it. It may not have been the smartest idea, but Cassandra’s first instinct was to help people, and so she went over to the figure to see if they needed any help.  
     She turned the person over onto their back, and her hand flew to her mouth. The woman looked just like her. Down to red hair and blue eyes. Although, this version was wearing a far skimpier dress.  
     “Miss, are you okay?” she asked hesitantly.  
     The look-alike pushed herself into a standing position and then gave a smile, not unlike someone who had cornered their prey. “I am perfectly all right. In fact, I’ve never been better. I’m finally free from a crystal ball that some stupid king had me trapped in and now I find a kindred spirit.”  
     “Who are you?” Parker asked.  
     “I am Kassandra, ancient seer of Greece.” The woman let out a soft chuckle before she started walking around the room, taking in the decorations as well as the people in it. She stopped at Eliot. “My goodness. You really do look exactly like your brother. You have less anger in you though. And the longer hair is absolutely yummy. I see why Cassandra likes you so much.”  
     She placed a hand on his chest and twirled her fingers through his hair, ignoring the growl that Eliot gave her.  
     “And Parker, dear, you are just as adorable as I thought you would be. I’m so glad. Boring people make me so angry.” She left Eliot alone and then wandered more through the room. She paused by the crystal ball on the floor and stooped to pick it up. “The funny thing about discovering the future, it tends to make the person insane. Apollo truly gave me a curse when he gave me the gift of prophecy. No one would believe me, preferring to think I was a witch of some sort.”  
     “I’m terribly sorry that you were treated so horribly, Kassandra,” the Librarian said. “But why would that make you want to hurt my friends?”  
     “Because I needed to. You would never have been happy with them. Just like you will never be happy with this new team you’ve assembled. I’m simply here to help you achieve your potential.”  
     Then, Kassandra snapped her fingers and another bright light filled the room, momentarily blinding everyone. When Cassandra was able to blink the spots out of her vision, she saw that she was alone in the Annex. Hardison’s orange soda had been dropped on the ground and was slowly gushing liquid across the floor.  
     “Eliot? Parker? Hardison? Sophie? Nate? Hello? Eliot!!!”  
     There was no response to Cassandra’s anguished cries.


	15. Crowded Cell

     Baird was pacing the cell again, eager to get out of the damp dungeon, or at least eager to hit something that wasn’t Ezekiel. The boy was driving her nuts. One minute, he would be silent, the next, he was muttering different facts about supposedly secure buildings across the world or shooting glares at Jacob Stone. She was almost to her breaking point.  
     “Aaargh! Flynn tell me you have figured out a way out of here.”  
     “I wish I could, Eve, but I haven’t found a single trace of the magic that was used to put us in here. What do you think, Jenkins?”  
     “Mr. Carsen is right. This place is extremely well sealed. Although I do believe it is completely sealed with magic. We might be able to use that if we could get to the source of the magic, which we can’t. As far as I can tell, the source of the magic is either Kassandra herself, or the king that trapped her here.”  
     “Great! So, we really have no way out of here?” Baird asked, her voice still aggravatingly loud.  
     “We do know one thing. In Ancient Greece, there was a king who delighted in making complex mazes and traps for his prisoners. It was the precursor to the Coliseum and the gladiators. Since this is a type of prison, there’s a good chance that there is a way out of here, but in a spot that no prisoner would ever think to look,” Jacob said from his spot on the floor. He winced a little as he shifted his leg into a more comfortable position.  
     “Jenkins, Ezekiel, help me look for some kind of way out of here. It’s the best chance we’ve got,” Flynn said. “Thank you, Jacob.”  
     As the three worked their way around the room, looking for anything that stood out in any way, there was another blinding flash. Baird immediately got into a fighting stance, ready to punch Kassandra to the next world.  
     However, five people stumbled into the dungeon, making the room even more crowded. There were cries of astonishment and almost fear before Baird was able to make out the figures.  
     “Eliot! Parker! Hardison! What are you guys doing here?”  
     The long-haired hitter whirled to the noise, ready to face a threat. He relaxed slightly when he saw who was in the dungeon with him. “Baird? Wait, is everyone here?”  
     He looked around the room, taking stock of who was there and who was absent. His team was all accounted for. He saw Ezekiel and Jenkins working on feeling the walls, probably for a way out of the dungeon. Baird was in front of him with Flynn Carsen not far behind her. Jake was sitting on the ground, his face tight, with pain or anger, Eliot couldn’t tell. His leg was definitely broken and he wouldn’t be moving for a while.  
     “At least everyone is accounted for. Now we just have to figure a way out of here. Parker, I want you to help me, Ezekiel, and Jenkins to scope the room, find anything that we could possibly use,” Eliot said, taking charge of the situation.  
     “Excuse me, but I don’t think we should be taking orders from you. After all, you don’t know how to deal with magic,” Baird said.  
     “This is my job. I have escaped from every kind of prison and torture chamber imaginable. Including magic ones. If anyone is going to be able to get us out of here, it’s me. We have to get out of here. Cassandra’s now completely alone out there, and we need to help her.”  
     Baird nodded, ceding control over to the hitter. Eliot looked around, eyeing any structural supports or weak spots that he could use if he needed to. Then, he realized that there was an expert in architecture of all kind. He needed that kind of expertise.  
     The room went silent, as they watched Eliot walk over to his brother. “Jake, I know that you hate me right now. But I need your help. You’re the only one that can provide the kind of information I need to get us all out of here safely. Are you willing to help me?”  
     Jake stared at the ground for a moment while the room collectively held their breath. He sighed quietly before looking into his older brother’s eyes. He saw all of the desperation to do the right thing, all of the longing for his family, all of the heartache that Eliot carried. Above all, he saw the determination the hitter had to get back to Cassandra. “What do you need to know?”  
      Eliot allowed a small smile to form on his face, letting the relief show through his eyes. “I need to know everything you know about this kind of architecture. Who built it, how it was built, any possible way to get out. Give me everything.”  
     Jake nodded once before he quietly looked around the room, searching for little details. Gesturing for his brother to help him, he slowly stood up and began to hobble towards the center of the room. He stood in the middle, and looked at the ground, studying the stone that was the foundation before turning his gaze to the ceiling.  
     “The king that built this prison was well known for creating puzzles in his dungeon. If the prisoners could escape, they were pardoned of all of their crimes. He often had places where he could watch them struggle to figure out the puzzle, kind of like the precursor to the gladiators.  
     “One of the people he hired to build these prisons was elusive mathmagician Archimedes. He designed and built a lot of the various technology that we still use today, but he loved spheres. And if you look closely at the ground and the ceiling, you can tell that we are inside an Archimedes sphere. Which means there are going to be a series of tests that we will have to pass in order to escape.  
     “Since Kassandra spent millennia here, chances are good that they will be difficult, and we might not even succeed. But besides someone else breaking in from the outside, this is our best shot of getting out of here.”  
     Jake stepped back to the wall, leaning on Eliot so he wouldn’t put weight on his broken leg. Flynn took his place, staring up at the ceiling and floor alternatively. Finally, with a cry of triumph, he leapt nearly three feet to the side to land on a particular stone. It glowed a pale red in the dim light of the dungeon, and Flynn stepped back away from it.  
     “That’s one piece of the puzzle down. Who knows how many more we have to find,” he said.


	16. She's Her Own Hero

     Cassandra was furious.  Not only did Kassandra abduct her own team, but she also abducted every single person she cared about.  Well, besides Amy of course.  But there was no way that the Librarian was involving any more people in this job.  There were too many casualties already.  Instead, Cassandra pushed up her sleeves and got to work, finding out everything she could about Kassandra the Seer.

     It took her a few hours, but she finally found the piece of information she needed to stop the seer.  And Cassandra was ready to go to war.

     She stepped through the Back Door and into the small town that had been her main focus these last couple of days.  The town was quiet, since it was the middle of the night, and seemed to have no idea of the events that had happened.  The mathematician stalked through the streets, searching for some kind of sign that she would be able to use to locate her prey.

     Finally, she decided to stop at the museum.  Thankfully, there were still a few people attending the event, and Cassandra was still dressed in her evening gown from earlier, so she didn’t stand out as being suspicious.  She noticed a few police officers mingling with the crowd, probably interviewing people about the missing artifact.  They were not important to her.

     Instead, Cassandra kept her eyes peeled for faces that she truly had hoped to never see again.  Dr. Frayser was talking with his guests, the picture of the perfect host after such an ordeal as a theft in the middle of the artifact’s big debut.  Knowing that he was the person most likely to be involved in this, Cassandra made her way over to the man.

     “Dr. Frayser.  I would like to have a few words with you.  Is there a place where we can discuss things privately, maybe with my parents as well?”

     The doctor seemed surprised, but pleased to see her.  “Cassandra, my dear.  I’m so glad you decided to come back to the party.  Please, your parents are this way.  We can talk in my office.”  Like the perfect gentleman he pretended to be, Dr. Frayser offered his arm to the redhead.  She, however, ignored the offer and instead gestured for the man to lead on.

     They walked through a set of doors that said “Employee Only” and Cassandra found herself in the belly of the museum.  It was strange seeing all those artifacts sitting in the backrooms where no one would be able to see them and admire them.  Finally, they were in front of a door that had a plaque announcing the office of Dr. Finklestein.

     “This is my office.  As I’m sure you know, I’ve had to change my name to try to regain my reputation.  This name seemed to be appropriate.  Your parents are inside.”

     Cassandra took a deep breath and then opened the door.  She couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of déjà vu.  And the name Finklestein wasn’t helping matters either.

     “Mother, Father, Dr. Frayser.  I need to know where the crystal ball is.  I know that you know where it is, and you are going to tell me.”  Cassandra unintentionally mimicked Eve Baird’s commanding voice when she was trying to get the Librarians to listen and obey her.

     Dr. Frayser looked at her in surprise.  “Why do you need to know?”

     “Let’s just say that it is for professional purposes.  I know it was stolen earlier tonight.  I know who stole it.  And I know that it is now back in your possession,” Cassandra said.

     “Darling, I don’t think you quite understand the forces that you’re dealing with.  It is rather dangerous to be in possession of that artifact,” her mother huffed.

     “It has been the source of several mysterious deaths over the years, and we wouldn’t want you to fall victim to something like a crystal ball,” her father said.  He moved to the desk and grabbed a teacup that Cassandra had failed to notice.  “I think you will feel better if you have some tea.”

     Cassandra wanted to refuse the tea, but as her father brought it closer, she was drawn in by the smell.  It was intoxicatingly sweet and seemed to smell just like the hot chocolate that Eliot would make for her.  The smell was comforting, and relaxing.  She reached for the cup, taking the delicate china into her hands as she cradled the warmth.

     In the back of her head, she could hear alarm bells ringing, and a voice shouting at her to not trust her parents.  They had been involved with a magical artifact; who knew how that had corrupted them.  But the lure of the tea was too strong, and Cassandra carefully took a sip.

     Immediately, a burning sensation filled her, causing her to feel like she was about to combust on the spot.  Cassandra looked at her hands, and dropped the teacup in shock, not caring that the tea splashed onto her feet.  Her hands were glowing a pale blue, almost as if she was giving off an aura.

     “What did you do to me?” she whispered, horrified.

     “We did what we had to do.  We needed you to reach your full potential, but working for that awful Library had stunted your growth.  Especially when you got your tumor removed.  We had to wait until it came back for us to be able to act,” her mother said as she moved to put an arm around her daughter.  She guided her over to a Roman style couch, and had her sit down.

     “Cassandra, you are so full of power, of magic.  Our father cursed us so that when you were born, all of our magic and immortality was drained into you.  The only way to get it back is to awaken that power and take it from you.”

     “What do you mean?  I’m full of magic?”

     Dr. Frayser sat down next to her and placed his hand on her knee.  “My dear, we are on the cusp of greatness.  And it’s all thanks to you.  Your brief time as Merlin has helped prepare you, as well as all of the mathemagics that you have been studying.  And you are almost ready.”  He then moved, leaving room on the couch for her father to join them.

     “We needed you to come to us willingly and by yourself.  So, we found Kassandra’s prison and set her free.  Her magic is similar to you own, and we were able to convince her to try to help you.  We got rid of that nasty boy that was always treating you horribly.  But, you kept having more and more people try to stand up for you.  Kassandra took care of them all, including your boyfriend Eliot Spencer.”

     “How do you know so much about me?  About the Library and my colleagues?  How do you know about me being Merlin?”

     “We never really let you out of our sight.  Granted, you stripped us of our magic, but we had a few tricks up our sleeves that helped us watch you throughout your years.”  Cassandra’s mother brushed a few stray wisps of her daughter’s hair away from her face.  “My dear, you have never really left us.  Not really.”

     Cassandra tried to stand up, wanting nothing more than to escape the people she once called parents.  They were terrifying, and the redhead knew that it was not safe to stay in their presence any longer.  However, Cassandra was stuck to the couch.  She tried to move, but it was like her body was glued to the spot.

     Her parents stood up and joined Dr. Frayser a few feet away, ignoring the look of terror on their daughter’s face.  “Zeus, we are finally ready to regain our power and join you in your noble conquest once again,” they chanted.

     Cassandra was pushed onto her back and her legs swung up on the couch, laying her flat.  She tried to scream, but her mouth was glued shut.  She could barely breathe from the invisible weight that seemed to press down on her.

     The three doctors began to chant in Ancient Greek, humming as they spoke.  Miraculously, Cassandra found that she could understand them, though it was unclear why.

     “Mother Hecate, grant us your power so that we may rejoin the ranks of Zeus.  Ares, grant us your strength to overcome our sacrifice.  Apollo, grant us your foresight, so we can regain our power.”

     They kept on speaking, their voices eerily in harmony, though monotone.  It was as if someone else was possessing her parents.  Cassandra watched in terror as pure white light began to encircle them, and seemed to be absorbed by them.  Her parents were becoming more powerful, and Cassandra could not think of any way to escape.

     As they were chanting, her mother approached her, holding a bronze knife in front of her, chanting an ancient spell over her daughter.  Though the language and the spell were foreign to her, Cassandra was sure she knew the purpose of the knife and knew that she had to find a way to fight against her parents.

     She frantically thought of any spell that she had ever learned, but none of them seemed powerful enough to counteract the forces of Ancient Greek gods.  And it had been too long since she had last used or studied magic.  The fear inside her grew, until it seemed to obscure her vision.

     At least, Cassandra assumed that she was blacking out.  But then, she watched as the black cloud seemed to enter her and envelope her.  She was suddenly filled with courage and strength and found that she could once again move.

     Just as the knife started to cut a thin line across her throat, the redhead forced her mother’s hand away from her throat until there was enough room for her to move without injuring herself.  Cassandra swung her legs onto the ground and forced herself into a sitting position, ignoring the efforts of her family to push her down again.  She threw her mother across the room with a flick of her wrist, causing her father to crash to the ground as he was bowled over by his wife.  Cassandra stood up and began walking towards them.  The white light seemed to dissipate and Cassandra brushed aside the few tendrils as if they were cobwebs in a dusty attic.

     “You will never harm me again.  You will never harm anyone else ever again.  I sentence you to a life serving Hades.”  Cassandra’s voice was filled with power and authority, sounding almost like she was a completely different person.  “By the authority of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon and the blessing of Athena, Hera, and Ares, I banish you from this world forever.”

     Cassandra could feel a strange power surging through her, not unlike when she was Merlin for a brief period.  She could feel the magic that was inside of her flow out and around her, swirling in a double helix pattern.  Through her synesthesia, she could see the patterns and designs the magic made, and could see exactly where the patterns were flowing towards.  Her parents and Dr. Frayser were huddled around each other, screaming and wailing about how it wasn’t fair.

     There was a bright blue flash, and a whirling vortex of black, and suddenly Cassandra was alone in the office.  She noticed that the bronze knife was still on the ground, and she gingerly knelt to pick it up.  The release of magic had caused the windows in the office to blow inwards and several glass cases were knocked over, resulting in a thick layer of sharp shards.

     Cassandra tore a strip of the curtains nearby off and wrapped the knife in the material before finding some kind of bag to contain the object.  She wasn’t entirely sure if the knife was a magical artifact, but she didn’t want to take any chances.  The knife was secure and Cassandra paused to make sure that she looked presentable and not suspicious in order to walk past the policemen in the main exhibit.

     No one paid her any attention as the redhead crossed the entrance.  It would be best to head back to the Annex and store the knife before it caused any potential trouble.  She would have to come back later to look for the crystal ball.

     The walk back to the Back Door was very lonely, especially considering the last few times she had made this trek, she either was accompanied by Eliot or was filled with purpose to get him back.  Now, there was no one to walk with her and make sure that she was okay.

     Cassandra did her best to not cry, but it was a battle she was not able to win.  In a couple short days, she had lost her team, the love of her life, her friends, and her family, and she had no way of knowing how to get them back.  Her family, however, she knew needed to stay trapped in whatever hole she had sent them to.  Everyone she desperately wanted to see again.

     The Back Door left the familiar feeling in her stomach as Cassandra traveled back to the Annex.  The room was exactly as she left it, except for the fact that the crystal ball was sitting on the table, as if mocking her.

     “Well, at least I won’t have to go looking for it anymore,” Cassandra said to herself.

     “I was actually hoping that you might help me,” a voice said from behind her.

     The Librarian whirled around and saw the seer that had caused all of the problems of the last two days.  “You took everyone I cared about.  Why should I help you?”

     Kassandra looked suitably ashamed, but she didn’t back down.  “I did what my new masters ordered me to.  I wish I could have left them alone.  Your parents, they were stronger than I was.  They promised me freedom, but they lied, again and again.  I am just as trapped as your friends, and if we want to free them, then the two of us need to work together.”

     “Why should I trust you?”

     “Because you and I are the same.  Cursed from childhood, and desperate for a normal life.  If you can free me as well as your friends from my prison, then I can finally be at rest.  I should have died a long time ago, but the prison that the king designed kept me alive for all of those years.  I lost everyone I loved years ago.  I want nothing more than to be able to see them again.”

     Cassandra looked at the woman who was just as cursed and alone as she had been and knew that, despite everything that Kassandra had done, the woman needed her help.  And by helping her, she might be able to save her friends.  She took a deep breath, held it for a couple of seconds and then let it out in one whoosh.  She squared her shoulders and looked the seer in the eye.

     “What do we do?”


	17. Family Fued

     Eliot and Parker were scouring every single inch of the prison, trying to find the next piece of the puzzle.  There were several bricks throughout the prison that were glowing red, blue, and green.  Even to Flynn’s mind, there didn’t seem to be a pattern to which bricks were a part of the puzzle and which ones weren’t.

     “Jake, do you know anything else that could help us?” Eliot asked his brother.

     The Librarian shook his head.  He had spent the last hour or so, trying to remember anything that could possibly help, both about architecture in Ancient Greece or about Archimedes.  There was just not enough information.

     Ezekiel was busy pressing every single brick he could reach, reasoning that eventually he would find the right one.  Everyone else was either helping Eliot and Parker, or trying to figure out a pattern.  Surprisingly, Nate and Flynn got along wonderfully, and they were putting their heads together to come up with a solution.  Sophie was tending to Jake, trying to help him with his broken leg and other scratches and cuts he had gotten when they were thrown into the dungeon.

     “We could really use Cassandra right about now,” Baird said from her spot on the floor.  Eliot had benched her a couple hours ago when it became obvious that she had a concussion and wouldn’t be able to help.

     Almost as if she was summoned, there was another brilliantly blinding light that filled the dungeon.  Immediately, Eliot jumped into action, pulling everyone away from the center of the room, and behind him so he could protect from whatever danger was coming.

     The light faded and Kassandra stood in the center of the room.  She looked around in surprise.  “You’ve already figured out some of the puzzle!  How?  I’ve spent thousands of years trying to crack this prison and I’ve never been able to even find where it starts.”

     Eliot stepped forward.  “I’m gonna give you three seconds to get us out of here before I tear your throat out.”

     “Eliot, don’t.  We are here to help.”  Another voice came from the shadows behind the seer and Eliot felt his stance relax.  It was a voice he recognized.

     Cassandra stepped out and faced her friends.  “We’ll need everyone to help, but we will get out of here.  Once in the prison, you have to solve the puzzle in order to escape.  Kassandra is just as trapped as you are.”

     Before anyone could register the movement, Cassandra was enveloped by Ezekiel.  He was holding onto her desperately, as though he was trying to reassure himself that his best friend really was alive and well.

     “I was so worried about you,” the Aussie said.  “We thought that she was going to kill you.”

     “I’m fine.  It turns out, she was being forced to hurt people.  She didn’t have a choice.  And I’m going to help her.”

     “Hold on a second.  She put us here.  She’s able to go in and out.  She’s not trapped,” Parker said.

     “She’s able to manifest herself on the outside, but her soul is imprisoned in this dungeon.  She needs our help to escape, and I need all of your help to solve this puzzle.”

     However, before Cassandra was able to put any kind of plan together, she was enveloped in a hug again.  This time, the person pulled back and kissed her deep.  Cassandra knew exactly who he was, and responded eagerly.  Even though they had been apart for a few hours, they had been equally worried about each other.

     Eliot pulled back only far enough to press his forehead against hers.  They breathed in the other’s presence, before they had to get to work.  Cassandra turned to the Librarians.

     “I know that we promised each other to not use magic, ever again.  But I found out that I am infused with magic.  I can get us out of here quickly, but I need your cooperation for the spell to work.”

     Flynn, Jenkins, and Ezekiel all nodded immediately.  Hardison and Parker joined them, before they nudged Sophie and Nate to also agree.  The only two people who were hesitating were Eve Baird and Jacob Stone.

     “Please.  We need everyone if this is going to work.  Otherwise, we’ll all be trapped here for eternity.  You need to trust me,” Cassandra pleaded.

     “Red, I will always trust you.  I just hope you know what you’re doing.  This will be big magic, and I don’t want you to burn yourself out,” Eve said.

     Cassandra looked at her teammate and friend, hoping that he could let their past differences lie in the past.  They would have to talk about it, but after everyone got out safely.

     “Stone, now is not the time to be stubborn.  You need to suck it up and ignore your grudge until we are out of here.  Cassandra came to rescue us.  The least you can do is help her when she asks you,” Ezekiel said.

     Jacob Stone looked at his teammates before his gaze settled on Eliot.  His face was as unreadable as ever, but his eyes held a plea for help.  A plea for forgiveness, at least for the moment.

     “I want to help, Cass, but I broke my leg.  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help with your spell.”

     The room seemed to let out a collective breath as if everyone was holding one in.  Cassandra gave an airy chuckle.  “If that is all, then I can help with that.  I think I can perform some magic that will heal your leg.  If you’ll allow me to, that is.”

     Jacob nodded and Cassandra knelt down in front of him before gently placing her hand just above the break.  She closed her eyes, and to everyone’s surprise, she started to glow a light blue color.

     Eliot could hear Hardison freaking out, and Sophie trying to calm him down all while Parker was saying that she wanted to glow like that, too.  But he focused on his brother and the woman he loved.

     It was incredible, watching the bone straighten out, without so much as a wince of pain from Jacob.  Soon enough, the bone was set and she helped her teammate stand up.

     She turned to the rest of the room.  “I know that we have a lot to talk about, but let’s save that for after we get out of here.”

     Cassandra moved every single person to a specific place throughout the dungeon, placing their hands and feet on specific bricks.  Once everyone was in the correct positions, Cassandra stood in the center of the room and spread her arms out.  She activated both her synesthesia and her magic, using both to see the patterns that would solve the puzzle that had trapped them.

     One by one, she told each of her companions to press down on a specific stone.  “Eve, right hand.  Nate, left foot.  Hardison, right foot.”  They all pressed the stones as she called them out, sometimes repeating ones she had said previously.  It was complex, but eventually her pace slowed.  She looked around and couldn’t see where the next puzzle piece was.

     “I’m sorry guys.  I’m not sure what comes next,” she said before she sat down where she was standing.  The poor Librarian had been through a whirlwind of emotions over the last week, and this failure, was the final straw.  She let out a dry sob, making sure to keep her tears from flooding down her cheeks.  A single drop escaped her and landed on the floor.

     Suddenly, the colors that the bricks glowed seemed to move around the room, speeding up, until it felt more like a whirlwind of color, than a prison.  The air around them began to move, whipping their clothes around, throwing dust into their faces and eyes.

     Just as suddenly as it started, the movement stopped, and Cassandra carefully peeled her eyes open after closing them to protect from the onslaught.  She looked around and gasped.  They were in the Annex of the Library, lying on the floor.  The others were stirring, and sitting up.  “I think we did it.  I think we’re out,” Cassandra gasped.

     Nate helped Sophie to her feet, while Parker pulled Hardison up.  Ezekiel kept a hand on Eve’s arm, knowing that it was quite possible that she had gotten a concussion, and who knew what that magic had done to her.  Jenkins, Eliot, and Flynn were checking the Annex for any sign of Kassandra, but she was nowhere to be seen.  Jacob was standing nearby, looking through the various books that he had collected before their adventure had started.  And Cassandra simply sat on the floor and tried to keep the room from spinning.  Her head ached and she could feel her nose beginning to bleed.  It was far worse than anything she had ever experienced with her synesthesia, and the pain was making her feel nauseated.

     “There’s no sign of Kassandra.  It seems as though she has disappeared,” Flynn announced to the whole room.  “Eve and I need to attend to our injuries, since Jacob has already been healed.  Ezekiel and Cassandra, make sure that the crystal ball is put someplace safe.”

     The Guardian took Flynn by the arm and frog-marched him away, no doubt to a very painful first aid treatment.  Ezekiel carefully grabbed the artifact, placing it, once again, in the cloth bag that Parker had put it in.

     “I think this should go in one of the locked rooms.  I don’t want anyone to accidentally get their hands on this bugger,” Ezekiel said and he, too, left.

     Cassandra got to her feet, her entire body vibrating from fatigue.  “I can help you guys get home.  Thank you so much for your help, and I am so sorry that you got caught up in being Librarians.  I’d understand if you would prefer to forget all about the past few days.  I have an elixir that can help you with that.”

     Hardison immediately, and loudly protested.  “No way do I wanna forget this.  Was it scary?  Yeah, it was.  But I don’t want to forget about magic, and that Eliot’s girlfriend is some kind of wizard.  And forget about all of the history that is in this place?  M-mm.”  He shook his head, indicating just what he thought about Cassandra’s offer.

     “Not to mention, we still have to help our client.  And we can’t exactly give her the crystal ball,” Parker added.

     “I can talk to your client.  If needed, I can even show her that it is in safe hands.”  Cassandra felt a glow in her heart, thinking about how loyal and loving her friends were.  They wanted to remember almost dying, simply because it was cool.  “At the very least, I will get you guys back home.  Especially Sophie and Nate.  They haven’t slept for over twenty-four hours.  I’m a little surprised that you guys are still standing.”

     “I think that we would appreciate that, yes.  And Cassandra, dear.  I meant what I said.  You don’t deserve a mother like that, so feel free to contact me at any time.  We are your family now,” Sophie said, giving the redhead a hug.  She took Cassandra’s phone and quickly added herself as a contact, with an extra number in case she needed to talk to Nate, as well.  “There, now we can chat whenever.”

     Cassandra felt tears sting her eyes as she looked at the graceful, kind woman in front of her.  “Don’t worry.  I think that you may be hearing from me sooner, rather than later.”

     After dialing up the Back Door, and escorting Nate and Sophie through, Cassandra returned in time to see Eliot enter the Annex.  She gave him a soft smile, remembering just how closely she had come to dying that night, and losing him.  That was something that she probably shouldn’t ever tell him, if she wanted to retain her independent lifestyle.  However, she was extremely grateful that she was able to see him again.  They were far too close to never seeing each other again.

     Eliot scooped her into a hug, pulling her as close as he possibly could.  Hardison and Parker just watched on with glee, knowing how happy Cassie made their hitter.  Jake however, studiously ignored them.

     Cassandra clung to Eliot as if he was her last breath, not wanting to let him go, regardless of who was watching.  Eventually though, they needed to break apart, especially since Eliot was practically holding the redhead up.  He could feel her shaking and he carefully maneuvered her into a nearby chair.

     “If I had to take a guess, I’d say that doing magic took a lot more out of you than you expected.”

     Cassandra let out a dry chuckle.  “You could say that.  I didn’t expect it to be easy, but I also didn’t think it would feel like a train hit my body.”

     “If you tell me how to operate the Back Door, I can take Hardison and Parker home,” the hitter offered.

     This time, Jake spoke up before Cassandra could.  “Don’t worry.  I can take care of that.”  He stalked over to the globe and worked with the different knobs until it seemed as though he had gotten it where he wanted it.  He opened up the Door and then motioned through with his hand.  “I set it to the restaurant, since I figured if you guys didn’t live there, your vehicles would be.”

     Hardison and Parker both walked over and gave Cassie a quick hug before stepping through the blue light.  Eliot, however, paused for a moment.  He leaned in and gave Cassandra a kiss, pouring every emotion he had into that one simple act.  The kiss was short, but not any less powerful than their other kisses and Cassie was left a little breathless.

     He leaned in to whisper into her ear.  “Stop by the brewpub when you’re done here, and I’ll make you some hot chocolate.”  He leaned back a little bit before swooping in to kiss her gently on the cheek.  “No matter what happens, you will always have a home with us.”

     Eliot left through the Back Door, and Cassandra let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.  She sat in the chair, trying to stem the raging wave of pain in her head.  It was difficult to concentrate on the world around her, and the Annex swam in and out of focus.  This wasn’t anything new with the redhead, though, and she was able to keep herself from passing out.

     Eventually, the rest of the Librarians trickled back into the room, and Cassandra forced herself to sit up straighter.  She knew what was coming, even if she didn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment.  Ezekiel sat on one side of her while Eve sat on the other.  Flynn was pacing the floor in front of them, and Jacob still stood next to the Back Door.

     “What happened?” he asked in a relatively normal voice.

     “Kassandra was trapped and she needed a way to get out.  She knew that I was the only one that could help her,” Cassandra said quietly.

     “You brought in people who are known criminals and let the roam around the Library.  And then they go and get sucked into that crystal ball, too.  I expected you to be smarter than that, Cassandra,” Flynn chastised.

     Cassandra hung her head.  She really didn’t want to argue with her fellow Librarians, and she really didn’t want to have to relive fighting her parents.  But she didn’t think that Flynn would let it go.

     “While it was a little reckless, you have to admit that they were able to help Cassandra retrieve the artifact.  She is not a thief, and she needed one.  Ezekiel was just as trapped as the rest of us,” Jenkins said.

     “It was still extremely irresponsible!” Flynn yelled.

     “Look, I know it was not what you would have done, but I needed help, I was panicking and I didn’t know who else to turn to.  They all have experience on retrieving sensitive items, and I know that they are trustworthy,” Cassandra responded in a quiet voice.

     “I don’t care.  You have a history of trusting the wrong people, and it’s always the Library that pays for your mistakes,” Flynn said.

     Eve gasped next to her and Ezekiel grabbed her hand.  She was grateful for their support, but she also knew that Flynn had been scared and needed to let out that emotion somehow.  Cassandra squeezed the thief’s hand and then stood up slowly.  Her vision blacked out for a moment, and she swayed on her feet.

     When Cassandra was once again stable, she turned towards the hallway that led to her room in the Library.  She ignored the voices of the Librarians, some calling to her, some arguing.  It didn’t matter anymore.

     She grabbed a bag that just happened to be lying on her bed and shoved her changes of clothes into it.  Most of her belongings were actually books from the Library and she wasn’t going to take them out into the world.  Once the room was sufficiently cleaned out, Cassandra walked to the kitchen to grab her stash of her favorite kind of tea.

     The voices in the Annex were growing in pitch, and she knew that she needed to step in and make sure none of them did anything they would regret.  The scene that she walked in on was one that would haunt her memories for years.  Eve was yelling at Flynn while Jenkins was keeping Excalibur from flying to his aid.  Jacob and Ezekiel were in a shouting match of their own, standing toe to toe and throwing insults at each other.

     Cassandra lifted her fingers to her lips and whistled loudly, causing her teammates to wince.  “Thank you.  I do not need the rest of you fighting.  I want to let you know that I will be spending the rest of my life here in Portland, but I will no longer be an active Librarian.  If you need me, you have my number.”

     She walked to the table, ignoring the stunned silence that surrounded her and found a pen and paper.  She quickly scribbled something on it, and the moved to the Back Door.  “Thank you, Flynn, for the opportunity to give my life a purpose.  I will never forget that service.  Ezekiel, you know where to find me.  Jenkins, take care of them all, and make sure that they all sleep occasionally.  Eve, thank you for your support and concern.”

     And with that final statement, Cassandra walked out of the Annex and into the brewpub.

     To her surprise, Eliot was waiting for her, just outside the closet door that she came out of.  But then, she shouldn’t really be surprised since Eliot had invited her to come to the brewpub after she was done at the Library.

     He pulled her into a hug, keeping it brief since he knew how exhausted Cassandra was.  He then sat her in a comfortable-looking couch and sat down next to her.

     “What happened?”

     Cassandra finally let the tears that she had been holding in escape.  The small cut her mother had made on her neck was stinging, and the bitterness of the fight that she had just left was still hanging heavy on her heart.  Harsh sobs tore at her throat and she let all of the pent-up emotions she had been dealing with over the last month finally out.  Eliot gathered her close and held her, gently rubbing circles on her back and soothing her pain with his presence.

     Eventually, her sobs morphed into whimpers and hiccups, but she refused to leave the safety of Eliot’s arms to face the world and the consequences of her choices.  She knew that Ezekiel would come to talk to her soon.  Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, maybe a week from now, but he would come.  Cassandra just wasn’t ready to face anyone from the Library at the moment.

     Before she could tell him what happened, Cassandra fell asleep, relaxing against his shoulder.  While Eliot wished he could have made her something to eat, he knew that she needed rest above all else.

     Eliot lifted the sleeping woman into his arms, careful to not jostle her awake, and carried her up the stairs to the spare bedroom.  He slipped off her heels and socks, and carefully helped her into some more comfortable clothes than the formal dress she had been wearing all night.  He had some sweats and t-shirts in the room, and figured that they would be the comfiest clothes he could put her in.  Careful to respect her privacy, he got her dressed and pulled the covers up before placing a kiss on her forehead and leaving the room.

     When he came downstairs, he was greeted by the sight of Ezekiel sitting on the couch, but was not surprised.  The thief looked up when he heard Eliot’s soft tread on the stairs.

     “Spencer, is she doing okay?”

     “She cried herself to sleep.  I’m not entirely sure what happened to make her cry like that.”

     “Some of the Librarians got mad at her for letting you and your crew into the Library.  It got bad enough that she packed a bag and resigned from the Library.  Baird is worried sick, as am I.  I came to check up on her, and see if there was anything I could do.”

     Eliot decided that he liked the young thief.  He had a kindness to him that he hid behind his boasting.  Ezekiel Jones obviously cared about his fellow Librarian, and probably considered her to be his best friend.  However, he was concerned at what the boy told him.

     “Was Jake one of the ones that was angry at her?”

     Ezekiel was quiet for a minute.  “He didn’t think it was the best decision, but I think he understood that she needed you.  I think I just got mad at him because he has been causing a few problems for Cassandra this past month.  It looked like he had put his grudge behind him, but now, I’m not so sure.

     “Flynn was the one that was the angriest, though.  Which was a surprise to the rest of us, since Flynn never gets angry.  The first time Cassandra brought someone to the Library, Flynn died, but he forgave Cassandra right after she used the magic from Excalibur to heal him instead of herself.  This time, it was bad.  I’m not sure if Baird will stay with him after this.”

     Eliot let out a low whistle.  “No wonder she was so torn up when she got here.  I asked her what had happened and she just started sobbing.”

     If Cassandra had already faced her parents’ cruel words, then had to deal with Flynn yelling at her, it was a wonder that she had made it to the brewpub before cracking.  And none of them knew what happened to her while they were all trapped inside the crystal ball.

     “Did she tell you what happened?” Eliot asked the thief.

     Ezekiel shook his head.  “Flynn was too busy getting mad at her to listen to how she got us out or how she found out that she had that much magic in her.”

     Eliot scowled.  He knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do to make the situation better for Cassandra.  But, that didn’t stop him from wanting to try.

     “Is there anything we can do to make this better for her?” he asked.

     Ezekiel shook his head.  “Flynn was already upset that you guys learned about the Library.  And I’m not sure on where you stand with Stone.  It might be better if Baird, Jenkins, and I talked to them to try to fix the situation.”

     Eliot understood, knowing that he already had a rocky relationship with one of the Librarians, and their Guardian didn’t exactly trust him.  He was too well known in the criminal world for a NATO colonel to not know about what he has done in the past.

     “Why don’t I make you some food.  I don’t think you had anything to eat in that dungeon and you were gone two days.  I’m sure you’re starving.”

     Ezekiel recognized the offer of friendship and took the older man up on his offer immediately.  “That would be wonderful.  Just as long as I don’t have to drink any of Hardison’s beer.”

     Eliot let out a laugh at that.  “No, I wouldn’t give that to anyone, unless I’m trying to poison them.  I was thinking some chili might be good.”

     The thief nodded and followed Eliot into the kitchen.  Once he had sat down, Ezekiel realized that he had the perfect opportunity to get to know Cassandra’s boyfriend better.  “As Cassie’s best friend, I feel like I should ask you what your intentions are with her.”

     Raising an eyebrow, Eliot looked at the thief.  Ezekiel knew the hitter’s reputation, but this was for Cassandra, and so he refused to be cowed by the dangerous glint in the man’s eye.  The two men locked eyes in an intense staring contest, daring the other to break away first.  Ezekiel, however, would not back down.  He cared for Cassandra, and needed her to be treated the way that she deserved.  And after watching his best friend die more times than he could count, Ezekiel had to make sure that she would be happy.

     Eliot let his stony exterior break and gave a little smile to the thief before turning to the fridge to dig out ingredients for his chili.  He set the vegetables on the counter and turned to Ezekiel.  “I love Cassandra.  I will be with her as long as she’ll let me.  And I know as well as you do, that she deserves to be happy and to have someone love her unconditionally.”

     Ezekiel nodded his head once before an ear-splitting grin showed itself.  “Good to hear.  Now, what can I do to help?”

     The hitter shook his head vehemently.  “Absolutely not.  Cassandra has told me stories about your failed attempts in the kitchen.  You can sit there and tell me stories.”

     Surprisingly, the two criminals seemed to get along well, and soon developed an easy camaraderie.  Ezekiel was glad that Eliot was such a good man, and he could easily see how Cassandra fell in love with the man.  For the chef and hitter’s part, found that Ezekiel was a very admirable man.  He was extremely skilled in his profession, and usually used the money he earned from stealing to benefit orphans and other charities.  Rather similar to what Leverage did for people.

     Ezekiel and Eliot ate together, since it had been a while since either of them had eaten.  The chili was delicious and filling, leaving them both satisfied.  Once the food was gone, and the kitchen cleaned, the two men went back to the headquarters of Leverage, and sat down on the couch together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this chapter is a little out of character for Flynn. I try to right my characters with flaws. If someone has spent the last few days in a jail with no food or water, and injured, he is bound to be grumpy and point out the mistakes others have made. I realize that Flynn doesn't normally act like this, but we also haven't seen him in a situation that he cannot get out of. Plus, I feel like he would bring up Cassandra's initial betrayal as a reason why bringing in thieves to the Library was a bad idea. Please be gentle.


	18. Two Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jacob realizes his mistakes.

            In the meantime, Eve Baird was fuming.  She had lost one of her Librarians, not to death, but to discouragement.  It was infuriating, especially since she knew that Cassandra had done absolutely nothing wrong, especially considering the circumstances that she had been placed in.  Eve wasn’t entirely sure what she would have done in her situation, but figured that she probably would have called in her own NATO contacts.

            While she understood that Flynn was tired and injured, he had no right to yell at Cassandra that way.  And he certainly should not have blamed her for the situation they had been put in.  The Library was functioning well, only because they worked together.  They could not dwell on past mistakes.  They all had made them, and they had all forgiven and moved on.

            Eve pounded on the punching bag that she had found a few weeks prior.  Even though she loved the Librarians, sometimes, she needed time away to hit something.

            Stone walked in, and shucked off his shirt, leaving him in a tank top.  He braced the punching bag for Eve, letting her hit it even harder.

            “Why are you here?” she asked the Librarian.

            “I needed some time away from Jenkins and his sulking.  I think he’s mad at me.”

            Eve scoffed.  “Well, it’s not like you made life easy for Cassandra this past month or so.”

            Jake nodded grimly.  “I know.  I realize it was such a petty grudge to hold onto.   I wish I could take it back, but I don’t know if she would want to see me.”

            “Ezekiel went to spend some time with her.  Maybe when he comes back, he’ll tell you if she’s up to speaking to any of us,” Eve said.

            Jake simply nodded, knowing that words were cheap and he couldn’t begin to describe how desperately he needed to make things right with Cassandra.  He had spent too much time blaming his friend in the past and present and it was time for him to make amends.

            Eve and Jake spent a few more hours working the various punching bags and weight machines.  They spent the time silent, both thinking about the past month, particularly the past few days.

            When they mutually decided to be done for the day, Eve followed Jake into the kitchen.  She knew that he had been making some dinner, putting it on shortly after Cassandra left.  And while he was no Eliot Spencer, Stone was a lot better cook than Eve had ever been.  The stew he had thrown together was filling the Annex with savory smells, making the Colonel’s mouth water and stomach grumble.

            Jacob ladled the stew into two bowls, leaving plenty in the pot for anyone else who would stumble into the kitchen, looking for food.  Eve said a quiet thank you before she dug into the food, eager to finally eat something.  They had spent two days in the dungeon without any food, and she was starving.

            It wasn’t long before Jenkins and Flynn wandered in, drawn by the smells of Stone’s cooking.  The kitchen was silent as the various caretakers for the Library ate vigorously.

            Flynn broke the silence with a loud groan.  “Oh, this tastes so good.  Remind me to have you cook for me more often, Stone.”

            The other three turned to look at him, judgement in their gazes.

            “What?  All I’m saying is that Stone is a good cook,” Flynn said petulantly.

            “This has nothing to do with food, and everything to do with how you treated Cassandra earlier.  And now, you’re acting as if nothing happened.  As if we didn’t just lose one of the most talented Librarians and a good friend to us all,” Eve said quietly.  It was her voice that warned anyone who knew her that she was dangerously close to exploding.

            Flynn, however, was not around enough to recognize that particular voice of Colonel Baird’s and he simply carried on as if his life wasn’t in danger.  “Yeah, well, if she can’t handle being a Librarian, then I suppose it was a good thing that she decided to resign rather than end up killed on the job.”

            He paused to shove another spoonful of soup into his mouth.  “Hey, where’s Ezekiel?  He is seriously missing out on some good food.”

            It was only the gentle touch of Jenkins’s hand on her arm that prevented Eve Baird from decking her boyfriend, right then and there.  Instead, she took a couple calming breaths, and slowly stood up from the table.  She walked around to the other side, where Flynn was eating, and picked up his bowl of soup.

            “Hey!” he shouted indignantly, right before Colonel Baird poured the hot soup into his lap.  She walked out of the kitchen without a backward glance.

            Flynn jumped up, trying desperately to wipe off the soup on his pants before it burned him.  Jacob gave a huge sigh before standing up to grab the Librarian a towel while Jenkins merely looked on in amusement.

            “What was that for?” Flynn asked the two men.

            Jacob looked at him with hard eyes.  “I might not have been treating Cassie right the past few months, but even I know that Cassie was the best Librarian we had.  She is the most caring and compassionate person I have ever met, and if we drove her to resigning from the job she loves, then we did something very seriously wrong.”

            Jacob walked out of the kitchen, looking for a place where he could get lost in reading to forget his anger.  He found a little nook in the recesses of the Library, and settled into the chair.  On the table beside the chair, there were three books stacked, one of which was extremely familiar to the art historian.  Cassandra’s notebook was on top of the other two books, with a pencil and a little ribbon to mark her place in the journal.  His heart sunk a little, knowing that the girl was not likely to come back to the Library any time soon.

            The Librarian picked up the notebook, leafing through the first few pages and seeing her notes on a particular case from over a year ago.  He smiled warmly at the memory, looking at the equations she had written along the margins, rather than in the main notes.  They probably didn’t have anything to do with the case or the artifact, just little things that Cassie noticed in the world around her.  Jacob continued to flip through the notebook, reading her thoughts on various artifacts and cases over the past year.

            When he finally got to the page that was marked in her notebook, Jacob sat up a little straighter.

           

            “ _Jacob:  I really hope you are reading this.  I’ve left this notebook here for you in the hopes that you would one day find my reading nook.  I want to tell you that I am sorry that you have had issues with your family.  I wish it was different for you, but having dysfunctional families almost seems like a requirement to be a Librarian.  However, your brother, Eliot, loves you so much.  He would never want to force you to be around him, if you didn’t want to.  I am so sorry for how the way things turned out at the pub that night.  I would give anything to have made that a happy reunion for you both._

_“As it is, I need you to not put the book down.  I need you to keep reading to the end, and hear me out, even if you don’t like what you’re reading.  I know we haven’t been on the best of terms, but for the sake of our friendship in the past, will you give me the benefit of the doubt and read to the end?_

_“Eliot told me what happened the night that he left to join the army.  I want you to hear his side of the story.  If, after reading this, you still choose to hate him and me, then so be it, but I need you to at least give him a chance._

_“That night, as I’m sure you remember, was Eliot’s eighteenth birthday.  His Pa decided that Eliot was old enough to run the hardware store that was left to his dad from your grandpa.  Eliot, however, didn’t want to be stuck in the same shop for the rest of his life.  He wanted to make a difference.  His father didn’t like that, and he made his wishes known.  I’m not sure if you knew this, but after his mother died, his father would get drunk, and would often come home angry.  Eliot always made sure that you and your little sister were asleep when he came home from the bar.  Eliot took the beatings as best as he could, as well as the verbal abuse.  He still has scars to prove it._

_“His father hated Eliot, and when he refused to be stuck in a cookie-cutter life, the old man decided enough was enough.  That night was the worst Eliot had ever seen him.  He said that you and your sister were staying over at your aunt’s place that night, which I am extremely grateful for.  As it turned out, Eliot stood up to him, and that was the worst possible thing that he could have done._

_“Eliot didn’t want to leave, and he especially didn’t want to leave you and your sister with that man.  But, when his father pulled out his shotgun and fired at Eliot, he knew he didn’t have a choice.  His shoulder was full of buckshot, and he had to go to several towns over to be treated by a doctor that knew how to take care of gunshot wounds.  Eliot desperately wanted to come back for you, but when he called your aunt, she made sure that he would stay away._

_“She told him that if he left for good, and didn’t come back, she could make sure that you and your sister were well taken care of, and that your father would never lay a hand on you.  Eliot figured that that was the best plan for all of you.  If he wasn’t there, your dad wouldn’t get angry nearly as often, making it safer for you and your sister._

_“I know this doesn’t excuse all the years without any contact from your brother, but I hope it eases the tension between you two.  Maybe someday, you can bring yourself to talk to Eliot, and rekindle a relationship between you.  That’s my hope, anyway.  At least, consider it._

_“Your friend, Cassandra.”_

 

            Jacob set the book down, and leaned forward, his head in his hands and thumbs rubbing the headache he could feel building up.  While he still felt like the lost little boy that had been abandoned by his hero, he also understood why Eliot had disappeared from his life.  If the same thing had happened to him, he would have probably reacted the same way.

            He found himself walking outside, pulling his coat on before he even realized he was moving.  Jacob looked down and saw that he still had the notebook clutched in his hand.  He shrugged philosophically and decided that he could give the notebook to Eliot and have him return it to Cassandra.

            Jacob drove through Portland in silence, thinking about all of the years he had spent, hating his brother for abandoning their family.  It was about time he worked to heal one of his family relationships.

            The pub was just opening when he arrived.  There was a waitress wiping off tables, and he realized that this must be Amy, Cassandra’s friend.  The girl looked up and greeted him warmly.

            “I’ll be with you in a moment.  Go ahead and pick anywhere to sit.”

            Jacob took a seat at the bar, removing his coat and laying on the back of the bar-stool.  The last time he had been here, he hadn’t really looked around at the restaurant his brother ran.  He was too emotional to take it all in.  Now, he realized, it had a tasteful, modern feel to the pub, while still having that rustic ambiance that Eliot preferred.  In short, it was a work of art, one that he greatly appreciated.  There was a framed picture in the corner that caught his eye.  It was a painting that his mother had loved before she died.  It was the painting that had sparked his interest in all things art.

            He was staring at the painting so intently, that he didn’t realize that the waitress had come back until she tapped him on the shoulder.

            “Here’s a menu for you, sir.  Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”

            Jacob thanked her quietly and as she turned to go, he called out her name.  “Amy, I was wondering if you could tell me about that painting that’s hanging up in the corner.”

            “Oh, that was one of the few things that Chef insisted on having out here.  I think it reminds him of his family or his home.  It’s a beautiful painting, but I have not been able to find out who painted it.  It was actually what inspired me to continue art school.”

            “Really?  I’m actually an art expert.  What style do you like the most?”

            “I love the impressionists, but I think I enjoy drawing the customers that come here.  I love drawing people; particularly how happy they look after they try something new.”

            Jacob nodded in appreciation.  “I’m particularly fond of the early Renaissance painters, personally, but I also love ancient pottery.  I’ve found some rather impressive pieces from Native Americans down in Oklahoma and Texas.”

            The two chatted about art for a few more minutes, before Amy excused herself to take care of another customer that walked through the door.  Jacob looked at the menu that she had given him and noticed that there were two halves.  One side was full of food that made his mouth water, and the other side had food that Jacob was sure that Eliot would never voluntarily make.

            A small smile crossed his mouth when he noticed the Home-style Chili, and immediately knew that he was going to order that.  Amy came back over to him to see if he had decided on what to get.  Once he had given her his order, she stayed by his side for a moment.

            “I’m sorry, but you seem very familiar to me.  Have you been in here before?”

            Jacob gave her a small, sad smile.  “Once, but I didn’t stay very long.  I’m afraid that I picked a fight with my brother and Cassandra when I was here last.  I was hoping Eliot might be here.  I want to apologize to him.”

            Amy beamed at him.  “He’s not on schedule to be the chef today, but he might be in the back with Hardison and Parker. I’ll go check for you.”

            The waitress skipped towards the back, thinking furiously.  _If that man was asking for Eliot, then that must mean they’re brothers.  I can totally see the resemblance between the two._   She glanced back at the art specialist that was sitting at the bar.

            Before slipping through the door to the backroom, she gave a knock so they wouldn’t be startled by her sudden appearance.  She walked in on a very interesting sight.  Hardison was gaming with another young man on the couch, both of them very into it, while Parker and Eliot watched on in amusement.  Eliot noticed her first, and motioned her over.

            “Amy, hey.  This is Ezekiel.  He’s a friend of Cassie’s.”

            Amy blinked at that, before waving at the young man.  He had a mischievous grin that made her heart beat faster.  “Hi.  I’m Amy.  I’m a waitress for the pub.”  She suddenly remembered the reason that she had come back in the first place.  “Eliot, your brother is sitting at the bar.  He asked to speak to you.”

            Ezekiel paused the game at that.  “Stone is here?  What could he want?”

            “He said he wanted to apologize to you.  He said he picked a fight with you and Cassie when he was here last,” Amy said quietly.

            “All right, I’ll be out there in a second.”

            Ezekiel spoke up.  “Do you want me to go with you?  Act as a referee?”

            Eliot shook his head.  “I can handle talking to my brother for a few minutes.  Although, I might bring him back here, rather than disturb any of our customers.”

            Hardison and Parker nodded, and the tech genius quickly put his gaming equipment away.  The table that the group would usually sit behind to discuss their clients was cleared off, and empty bowls with the remnants of chili were taken to the kitchen to be cleaned.

            Soon enough, Eliot was walking through the door, his muscles taught with tension.  Only someone that spent almost every day with him would have been able to see that he was nervous to meet with his brother.  And since Amy found out about Leverage Incorporated, she had been able to spend more time with them, and learn the different behaviors of her employers and friends.

            “He’s sitting at the bar.  Do you want me to grab you some food from the kitchen while I grab his chili?” Amy asked the hitter.

            “I think some of the hot chocolate would be nice.  It helps calm me down.”

            “Coming right up, Chef.”

            Eliot sat on the bar-stool next to his brother.  _This is just like helping Willie and his horses.  Things are gonna be okay_.  The restaurant was relatively quiet, having not hit the lunch hour yet.  Eliot was content to let Jacob take the lead on this conversation, especially since he still wasn’t entirely sure why his brother wanted to talk to him.

            “I noticed that you have the painting Mom loved hanging up.”

            Eliot gave a raw smile.  “Yeah.  I ended up back home a couple years ago, and Sarah gave me the painting.  She said that you hadn’t been home in a while, and Pop would glower any time he saw it.  I figured it should be hung in a place where everyone can admire it.”

            The two brothers fell back into silence.  Amy came out with the bowl of chili for Jacob and the hot chocolate for Eliot.  Jake looked at the drink curiously.

            “I took you as more of a beer guy, especially since you run a brewpub.  Why the hot chocolate?”

            “I’ve had it on the menu for those people that come in that don’t drink alcohol.  When Cassandra showed up, every meal that she ate was accompanied with hot chocolate, and I guess I’ve come to associate the drink with her.  It’s a comfort, I guess.”

            “You really love her, don’t you?”

            Eliot gave his brother a wry grin.  “Yes, I do.  She’s the best thing to ever happen to me.  And before you do the whole ‘if you hurt her’ routine, I already got that talk from Ezekiel.  He came over around four this morning.”

            They fell back into silence, while Jacob eagerly started eating the chili.  The minute the hot soup hit his mouth, he let out a sigh of pleasure.  “It tastes just like Mom’s.  It’s amazing!”

            Eliot merely grinned in response.  He waited patiently for Jacob to bring up the real reason he was here.  That is, until he noticed a familiar notebook on the bar next to the bowl of chili.

            “Why do you have Cassie’s notebook?”

            Jacob set his spoon down, and swiveled on his bar stool to fully face his brother.  “I found it at the Library, and decided that I should bring it to her.  But it’s actually what I want to talk to you about.  I don’t know if you know about this, but Cassandra wrote me a note in her notebook, explaining the circumstances behind why you left home.”

            He opened the book up to where the pencil was marking the page.  He pushed the notebook to Eliot and let him read through the redhead’s letter.  He went back to eating while he waited for his brother to finish reading.

            Eliot had a dopey smile on his face, and he knew it.  He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Cassandra writing out this note that Jacob may or may not have eventually stumbled across.  But she wanted to help them become brothers again, and did what she could to tell the other side of the story.

            He finished and saw that Jacob had finished his chili and was watching him carefully.  “She’s an amazing woman.”

            “Eliot, I need to apologize for the way I’ve treated you.  It wasn’t fair, especially knowing what you did for us.  I’m not saying that I’m not still angry, but I understand the circumstances a lot better, and I want to rebuild our relationship.  That is, if you’ll let me.”

            “Jake, it killed me to leave you and Sarah behind.  I wanted nothing more than to watch you kids grow up, but they told me it would be safer for the two of you if I wasn’t around to spark Pop’s anger.  I don’t know what I could have done differently, but I wish that it was different.”

            “I know, El.  And we have a long way to go before we are okay, but I just wanted to let you know that I want to try.”

            Eliot clapped his brother’s shoulder.  “That would be wonderful.”

            Jacob grinned, the first real smile he had given since his brother had reappeared in his life.  “Good.  And by the way, you’ve made a wonderful life for yourself here.  The food is absolutely amazing.”

            “Thank you.  Feel free to come by at any time.  I know that locks don’t bother that magic door of yours.  You will always be welcome here.”

            Jacob grinned before pulling out his wallet.  Eliot noticed this and immediately protested.  “You don’t have to pay.  It’s on the house today, all right?”

            The art historian nodded and stood up.  He held out his hand to shake Eliot’s, throwing in a smile when Eliot gripped his hand in response.  “I’ll see you soon, brother.”

            He was almost to the door when Jacob remembered the notebook.  “Will you make sure that Cassandra gets her notebook back?  I’m sure you’ll see her before I will.”

            Eliot nodded and grabbed the book from off of the bar, taking it with him into the office of Leverage Inc.  Hardison and Parker looked up when he walked in, each acting almost natural while Ezekiel was trying to hide a suspicious look.

            “You guys don’t have to hide the screens.  I know you were watching Jacob and I.”

            Hardison grinned sheepishly.  “We just wanted to make sure you didn’t need backup, man.”

            Ezekiel was watching the hitter closely, looking for any minute change in expression, and it worried said hitter that someone he had become friends with so recently was able to read his expressions.  “Everything go okay?” the thief asked.

            Eliot nodded, letting his own relief leak through his mask.  “It went surprisingly well.  We exchanged small talk for a while, and then he apologized and said he wanted us to rebuild our relationship.”

            “Wow, what brought that on?  Last I knew, he still hated your guts,” Ezekiel murmured.

            “Evidently, a note in this notebook that Cassie left lying around for him to read.  She told my side of the story, which convinced Jacob to come and talk to me.”

            “Wonders never cease,” Ezekiel said, before bringing up the game that he and Hardison were playing earlier.

            “Is Cassie up yet?” Eliot asked.

            There was a murmur of “no” and “not yet” that came from his friends.  Eliot shook his head a small grin lighting up his face.  She needed her sleep, and he was not going to be the one to wake up the mathematician, regardless of how badly he wanted to know what had happened to her while everyone was locked in that dungeon.  But his curiosity could wait.  Instead, he picked up the mystery novel he had started a few days ago, and tuned out the noises of the boys playing their game.


End file.
